"RL 


/£2 

<fa} 
'  >\.. 


THE 


BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM 


BY 

FREDERICK   R.  SANFORD. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY. 
1889. 


Copyright,  1889,  by  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY. 


Bancroft  Library 
6*t(  ° 

MAY  3  1  1918 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 


CHAPTER    I. 

IT  all  came  about  by  accident,  while  Warren  has 
always  insisted  that  the  fault,  if  fault  there  were,  was 
to  be  charged  upon  the  weather.  It  was  a  most  deplo 
rable  morning  on  which  to  make  a  journey,  raining  as 
it  can  rain  only  in  Southern  California  on  those  rare 
occasions  when,  in  the  land  of  sunshine  and  flowers, 
a  storm  does  occur;  then,  in  very  truth,  the  rains 
descend  and  the  floods  come.  On  an  average  of  three 
hundred  and  fifty  days  in  the  year  Los  Angeles  is  a 
beautiful  city :  on  the  fifteen  remaining  days,  when 
it  may  be  safely  counted  upon  to  rain,  few  will  be 
attracted  by  its  charms ;  while  certainly  its  least 
attractive  part  is  the  vicinity  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
depot. 

As  Warren  sprang  out  of  the  carriage  upon  the 
depot  platform  and  looked  around  upon  the  street,  no 
longer  a  street,  but  now  resolved  into  an  indescribable 
chemical  compound  of  earth  held  in  solution  by  water, 
he  said  to  himself,  "  In  California,  most  assuredly,  it 
never  rains  but  it  pours :  it  is  a  certainty  that  the 
originator  of  that  wise  proverb  was  a  native  of  the 
Golden  State." 


4  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Hurrying  through  the  dripping  mass  of  humanity 
with  which  the  platform  was  thronged ;  dodging  here 
an  umbrella,  there  deploying  to  make  his  way  safely 
around  a  lady  who,  with  true  feminine  unconsciousness 
of  all  the  possible  damage  which  she  might  inflict  upon 
the  temper  and  the  raiment  of  her  fellow-mortals,  was 
vigorously  shaking  the  water  from  her  rubber  cloak 
preparatory  to  folding  it,  wearing  all  the  time  that 
sweet  air  of  unconscious  innocence  of  wrong  intention 
which  so  completely  disarms  the  irate  males  in  her 
vicinity,  reducing" them  to  silent  helplessness;  dex 
terously  avoiding  this  extemporized  shower,  Warren 
made  his  way  to  the  baggage-room.  Time  was  press 
ing,  moments  were  precious,  for  he  had  been  late  in 
leaving  his  hotel ;  but  for  once  fortune  favored  him : 
no  one  else  was  in  the  room,  and  right  by  the  door  was 
his  trunk  with  his  initials — M.  H.  W.,  N.  Y. — sten 
cilled  upon  each  end. 

"  Here,  captain,  check  this  to  Ventura !"  he  called 
out  to  the  baggage-master. 

"  Ventura  it  is,"  that  functionary  responded,  detach 
ing  from  its  strap  as  he  spoke  the  brass  tag  with  its 
paper  card,  denoting  the  destination  of  the  baggage, 
which  California  roads  employ.  As  Warren  passed 
out  of  the  door  he  brushed  past  a  young  lady  swathed 
so  completely  in  india-rubber  that  no  part  of  her  face 
was  visible ;  and  as  he  slowly  made  his  way  down  the 
platform,  looking  back  at  her,  and  wondering,  after 
the  manner  of  young  men,  whether  she  was  pretty  or 
plain,  light  or  dark,  he  narrowly  escaped  being  run 
down  by  the  heavily-loaded  truck  bearing  his  trunk 
among  many  others  to  the  train. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  5 

Entering  the  smoker,  Warren  threw  off  his  water 
proof,  folded  it,  placed  it  in  the  rack,  removed  his 
overcoat,  drew  on  a  skull-cap,  and  with  a  cigar  and  a 
novel  proceeded  to  while  away  the  seventy-odd  miles 
of  distance  and  four  hours  of  time  lying  between  Los 
Angeles  and  San  Buenaventura. 

I  think  it  is  Charles  Lamb  who  says,  "He  who 
doth  not  smoke  hath  suffered  no  great  disappointment, 
known  no  great  sorrow,  and  hath  lost  the  great  con 
solation  in  life."  What  man,  young  or  old,  does  not 
endorse  this  sentiment  and  bless  the  memory  pf  those 
noble  red  men  who  first  among  mankind  discovered 
the  manifold  delights  of  tobacco  ?  Surely  its  uses  and 
its  blessings  must  have  been  revealed  to  them  in  a 
moment  of  inspiration;  because  it  was  to  them,  the 
aborigines  of  a  land  whose  vast  territory  could  be 
annihilated,  and  its  inhabitants  brought  into  close 
sympathy  with  each  other  only  by  railroads,  and  were 
destined  to  be  railroad  travellers  as  an  inevitable  conse 
quence  :  to  the  aborigines  of  such  a  land  was  revealed 
first  among  living  men  the  delights  of  a  weed  which 
can  turn  even  the  long  and  otherwise  weary  transcon 
tinental  journey  into  a  constant  revelation  of  progres 
sive  bliss. 

Without  tobacco  what  man  could  endure  the  three 
thousand  miles  of  physical  discomfort  involved  in  the 
transit  over  the  continent  ?  Without  the  solace  of  his 
cigar  what  man  would  possess  sufficient  hardihood  to 
undertake  those  six  weary  days  and  miserable  nights, 
or  the  agonies  only  known  to  him  who,  by  bitter  ex 
perience,  has  learned  how  leisurely  the  speed  and  how 
wretched  the  coaches  of  the  A.  T.  and  S.  F.  E.  K.  Co.  ? 

1* 


Q  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

Not  even  all  the  delights  awaiting  them  in  California 
would  entice  the  male  portion  of  humanity  across  the 
continent  in  the  face  of  these  actual  hardships  did  they 
not  have  this  consoling  weed  to  soften  their  sorrow  and 
while  away  their  weary  hours.  Yet  it  can  be  done ! 
It  is  done  every  day — by  the  women  !  I  do  not  know 
the  secret  of  this  phenomenon,  unless  it  be  owing  to 
their  superior  patience  and  bravery ;  or  unless  it  be 
that  caramels  are  to  them  what  tobacco  is  to  their  hus 
bands  and  brothers, — a  source  of  consolation  and  the 
well-spring  of  physical  endurance  and  of  mental  and 
moral  strength. 

The  ride  from  Los  Angeles  to  San  Buenaventura  is 
beautiful,  while  the  whole  country  traversed  is  also 
full  of  interest.  Long  reaches  of  fertile  fields  and 
rich  valleys  sweeping  down  from  the  mountains  to  the 
ocean  call  forth  one's  constant  admiration.  The  train 
rushes  through  the  San  Fernando  tunnel,  then  on  past 
the  Camulos  ranch,  overflowing  with  interest  to  all 
California  tourists ;  for  are  not  all  California  tourists 
Ramonolaters  ?  And  here  Mrs.  Jackson  painted  the 
scenery  and  gathered  the  legends  and  myths  whose 
picturesque  blending  makes  up  the  tale  which  calls 
forth  so  much  enthusiastic  devotion  towards  this  now 
world-famous  ranch. 

But  Warren  was  not  a  Ramonolater;  therefore  he 
did  not  gaze  spellbound  upon  either  the  whitened 
adobe  ranch-house  embowered  amid  orange-trees,  or 
the  great  wooden  crosses  which  crown  the  hill  over 
shadowing  the  track,  "to  tell  all  passers-by  that  good 
Catholics  live  here ;"  and  the  sole  interest  possessed  by 
the  Camulos  in  his  eyes  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  was  in 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  7 

Ventura  County, — a  fact  which  assured  him  that  his 
journey  was  gradually  coming  to  its  end. 

On  sped  the  train  into  the  beautiful  Santa  Clara  Val 
ley  of  the  South,  the  garden-spot  of  Southern  Cali 
fornia.  Now  the  short  winter's  day  was  drawing  to  its 
close ;  nothing  could  be  seen  as  the  cars  whirled  along 
save,  now  and  then,  a  light,  as  the  train  shot  by  some 
lonely  ranch-house ;  so,  even  had  he  desired  other  di 
version,  none  remained  for  Warren  save  his  book  and 
his  cigar.  At  last  the  lights  grew  thicker :  the  train 
was  entering  some  large  town ;  above  the  roar  of  the 
cars  and  the  pelting  of  the  rain-drops  the  moan  of  the 
ocean  could  be  heard  as  the  surf  rolled  in  to  break 
upon  the  beach.  Slowly  the  train  drew  up  before 
a  brilliantly-lighted  station,  and  Warren's  California 
pilgrimage  was  at  an  end. 

The  brakeman  thrust  his  head  through  the  partially- 
open  door,  calling  out,  "  San  Buenaventura !"  and  at 
the  discordant  but  welcome  sound  Warren  slowly  rose, 
gathered  together  his  luggage,  rearrayed  himself  in 
slouch  hat  and  waterproof,  and  making  his  way 
through  the  throng  of  rival  hotel-runners,  each  shout 
ing  the  name  of  his  hospitable  hostelry  at  the  top  of 
lungs  whose  lusty  strength  proclaimed  the  wonders 
wrought  by  this  genial  climate,  and  interrupting  a 
hackman  in  the  middle  of  his  chant,  "Two  bits  to 
any  part  of  the  city/7  he  asked,  "Do  you  know  Mrs. 
Elkins,  of  Poli  Street?" 

"  You  bet,  captain,"  was  the  answer. 

"  Take  me  there,"  Warren  demanded. 

"  All  right,  colonel !     Checks  ?" 

A  ride  at  night  through  the  streets  of  an  unfamiliar 


8  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

town  always  seems  almost  interminable;  therefore  a 
journey  which  seemed  to  Warren  miles  in  length, 
but  which  was  in  reality  but  little  more  than  half  a 
mile,  brought  him  to  the  house  which  was  to  be  his 
home  for  many  months  to  come. 

It  was  a  large  white  house  lying  well  back  from  the 
street,  with  a  well-kept  lawn  in  front  and  around  it ; 
this  lawn  was  filled  with  roses,  now  in  full  bloom : 
here  and  there  were  orange-  and  lemon-trees,  their 
yellow  fruit  standing  out  in  sharp  contrast  against  the 
background  of  green  leaves,  and'  their  blossoms  filling 
the  air  with  a  delicious  fragrance,  while  two  giant  fan- 
palms  stood  like  exaggerated  posts,  one  on  either  side 
of  the  entrance.  All  this  Warren  learned,  of  course, 
later  on ;  no  one,  however  profound  his  interest,  would 
stop  to  pursue  close  and  critical  investigations  into  his 
surroundings  in  a  dark  night  and  under  the  drenching 
down-pour  of  a  California  winter  rain. 

His  sensations  had  already  informed  him  that  the 
house  stood  on  a  street  which  ran  up  the  side  of  a  steep 
hill ;  while  he  could  not  fail  to  observe  that  it  was  a 
two-story  edifice,  and  in  this  fact  was  an  exception  to 
the  prevailing  style  of  architecture  in  Southern  Cali 
fornia. 

Warren,  though  in  the  unamiable  frame  of  mind 
which  is  discernible  even  in  the  sweetest  of  dispositions 
at  the  end  of  a  long  journey  made  under  uncomfortable 
circumstances,  could  not  fail  to  be  pleased  with  his 
quarters.  The  room  was  large,  with  a  deep  bay-win 
dow  at  the  side  opposite  the  bed,  while  two  other  win 
dows,  one  on  either  side  of  the  dressing-table,  gave 
promise  of  abundance  of  light  and  air.  The  gas, 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  9 

although  it  was  turned  low,  still  gave  sufficient  light 
to  enable  him  to  see  at  a  glance  that  the  furniture  was 
of  the  kind  most  suitable  to  the  country.  The  floor 
was  covered  with  matting ;  the  chairs  and  the  lounge 
were  of  wicker  seated  with  cane,  making  them  perfectly 
adapted  to  a  country  where,  month  after  month,  the 
sun  rises  to  set  again  in  a  cloudless  sky,  while  even  the 
lightest  of  summer  showers  never  moistens  the  ground, 
and  therefore  the  most  careful  and  painstaking  house 
keeping  cannot  altogether  vanquish  that  foe  most  hated 
in  a  housewife's  soul, — dust. 

Having  made  his  supper  at  Santa  Paula  the  calls  of 
hunger  did  not  compel  Warren  to  defy  the  rain,  there 
fore,  having  paid  and  dismissed  the  driver,  he  at  once 
began  unpacking  and  setting  in  order  his  household 
gods.  Unlocking  his  trunk,  he  threw  back  the  lid,, 
then  instantly  started  back  with  an  exclamation  ex 
pressive  of  dismay,  and  almost  of  horror. 

There,  spread  before  him,  was  a  sight,  beautiful,  even 
ravishing  had  it  only  been  displayed  in  its  proper  place, 
but  which  became  an  object  of  intensest  aversion  to  him 
as  a  moral  young  bachelor  when  found  in  his  trunk 
and  his  chamber,  for  there  lay  lovely  dresses,  neatly 
folded  and  carefully  packed,  as  their  fair  owner  had 
arranged  them  for  her  journey, — dresses  which  gave 
promise  of  most  bewitching  toilets, — when  worn  by 
their  rightful  owner, — delicate  lingerie,  dainty  bon 
nets  :  in  short,  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a  costly  femi 
nine  wardrobe, — this  was  the  sight  revealed  to  War 
ren's  horrified  gaze  when  he  threw  back  the  lid  of 
what  he  had  until  now  believed  to  be  his  trunk, 
filling  his  soul  with  consternation  while  language  con- 


10  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

tained  no  words  capable  of  expressing  his  dismay. 
Manifestly  there  must  be  a  mistake  !  Yet  on  the  sur 
face  everything  appeared  to  be  all  right.  His  trunk 
had  been  new  when  he  left  New  York ;  he  had  pur 
chased  it  expressly  for  this  journey.  The  travel  stains 
and  scars,  won  in  many  an  honorable  conflict  with  the 
baggage-men,  showed  that  this  was  all  true  of  the  cabi 
net  of  horrors  before  him.  There  were  initials  on  each 
end  corresponding  exactly  to  those  which  he  had  had 
stencilled  on  his,— M..H.  W.,  K  Y. 

(Oh !  why  had  not  kind  fate  prompted  either  him 
self  or  this  young  woman  to  order  the  name  to  be 
painted  in  full  once  at  least  ?) 

On  the  surface  everything  appeared  to  be  all  right : 
in  reality  all  was  terribly  wrong. 

He  saw  it  all  now.  When  he  went  up-town  on 
reaching  Los  Angeles  to  spend  the  night  and  talk  real 
estate  he  ought  not  to  have  claimed  his  baggage  and 
left  it  in  the  care  of  the  baggage-master  unchecked. 
He  had  done  this  same  thing  hundreds  of  times  before, 
but  now  it  had  happened  once  too  often.  Some  young 
woman  had  manifestly  done  likewise;  some  young 
woman  having  the  same  initials  as  himself  and  also 
owning  as  exact  a  duplicate  of  his  trunk.  So  it  came 
about  that  they  had  made  an  exchange,  and  each  was 
the  loser  by  it.  These  things  were  worse  than  useless 
to  him :  he  could  not  wear  them ;  he  could  not  give 
them  away.  He  had  no  wife,  no  sister,  not  even  a 
sister-in-law  upon  whom  he  could  bestow  this  un 
lucky  windfall;  while,  were  he  to  attempt  to  offer 
it,  costly  as  the  wardrobe  was,  to  any  young  lady  of 
his  acquaintance — he  dared  not  picture  to  frimself 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  1] 

the  indignant  scorn  with  which  such  an  offer  would  be 
rejected. 

Then,  his  heart  was  moved  with  compassion  as  he 
pictured  to  himself  the  anguish  with  which  his  un 
happy  fellow-victim  would  look  upon  her  new  posses 
sions.  If  he  was  overwhelmed,  what  must  her  suffer 
ings  be  ?  What  sobs  and  exclamations  indicative  of 
the  intensest  misery  must  burst  from  her  fair  lips ! 
(For,  of  course  she  must  be  young  and  pretty.) 

If  these  dainty  and  lovely  things  were  worse  than 
useless  to  him,  what  could  she  do  with  the  trousers  and 
coats  and  vests  fated  to  meet  her  shocked  and  terrified 
eyes  when  she  opened  the  trunk  which  he  had  packed ; 
and  that  meerschaum-pipe,  that  bottle  of  muscatel,  that 
other  bottle  of  brandy  carefully  stored  away  in  case 
of  need  ?  He  closed  the  lid  and  turned  away  with  a 
groan  of  keenest  suffering;  the  picture  was  too  har 
rowing. 

What  was  to  be  done  ? 

California  is  a  large  State  through  which  to  search 
for  one  young  woman  of  whom  nothing  is  known 
beyond  the  single  fact  that  on  a  given  day  in  January, 
1888,  she  was  at  the  Southern  Pacific  station  in  Los 
Angeles,  and  there  made  an  exchange  of  trunks  with 
a  young  man ;  and  that  her  initials,  like  his,  are  M. 
H.  W. 

She  might  even  then  be  in  Ventura ;  she  might  be 
in  Santa  Barbara;  she  might  have  gone  on  to  San 
Francisco ;  she  might  be  anywhere  for  all  he  knew. 
Possibly  she  had  taken  the  train  to  go  back  to  New 
York,  though,  considering  the  season  of  the  year,  this 
was  not  at  all  probable. 


12  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

What  was  to  be  done  ?  He  could  not  advertise.  It 
was  not  a  matter  that  would  bear  too  much  ventila 
tion.  His  soul  writhed  in  anguish  at  the  thought  of 
the  snickering  inquiries  that  would  be  made  of  him  by 
all  his  friends  if  this  story  should  ever  get  back  to 
New  York. 

Then,  what  could  be  done?  Manifestly  nothing, 
for  the  night  at  least,  except  to  go  to  bed  and  make 
the  best  of  the  matter.  So  to  bed  he  went,  to  dream 
about  the  problem. and  wait  to  see  what  solution  the 
next  day  would  offer. 


CHAPTER    II. 

IT  was  late  when  Warren  woke  on  the  following 
morning,  his  troubles  not  having  weighed  upon  his 
mind  sufficiently  to  rob  him  of  a  sound  and  refreshing 
sleep  during  the  night.  After  dressing  he  went  to  the 
bay-window,  raised  the  shade,  and  looked  out.  An 
exclamation  of  delight  escaped  him.  "  What  a  mag 
nificent  panorama  !"  he  exclaimed.  And  truly  the  view 
well  deserved  the  name  he  gave  it,  for  this  is  what  he 
saw. 

The  rain  had  ceased  during  the  night,  and  the  sun, 
now  two  hours  high,  was  shining  in  a  sky  perfectly 
cloudless,  and  blue  with  that  depth  found  nowhere 
except  in  Italy,  the  Riviera,  and  Southern  California. 

The  street  upon  which  the  house  where  he  had  taken 
lodgings  stood  wound  around  the  foot-hills  nearly 
half-way  to  their  summit,  and  the  whole  city  of  Ven 
tura  lay  spread  out  before  him.  The  broad,  straight 
streets  ran  from  the  foot-hills  down  to  the  beach  and 
were  lined  on  either  side  with  trees,  their  rich  green 
foliage  gently  waving  in  the  soft,  refreshing  breeze. 

The  houses,  each  with  its  lawn  and  garden  filled 
with  roses,  heliotrope,  and  geraniums,  all  in  full  bloom, 
were  shaded  with  orange-,  fig-,  and  palm-trees ;  while 
many  of  them  were  almost  buried  under  dense  masses 
of  flowering  vines. 

In  the  midst  of  the  city  two  gigantic  date-palms 
2  13 


14  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

lifted  their  venerable  heads  high  above  all  else ;  while 
beyond  lay  the  ocean,  its  waves  sparkling  in  the  sun 
shine,  the  surf  breaking  on  the  shore  with  a  musical 
roar. 

About  twenty  miles  out  in  the  ocean  lay  the  two 
islands  of  Anacapa  and  Santa  Cruz,  not  seeming  half 
that  distance  in  the  clear  atmosphere,  which  brought 
out  every  formation  of  mountain  and  coast-line  with 
such  minute  distinctness. 

At  his  feet  the  old  mission  of  the  Holy  Cross  reared 
its  massive  yellow  walls,  ugly  yet  quaint  and  pictu 
resque,  though  its  effect  was  marred  by  the  new  shingled 
roof  with  which,  in  the  rage  for  modern  improvements, 
the  parish  authorities  have  replaced  the  old  tiled  roof 
of  Father  Junipero  Serra's  times. 

Beyond  the  old  mission,  and  to  the  left,  a  long  black 
wharf  ran  far  out  into  the  ocean,  at  the  side  of  which 
lay  a  schooner  discharging  a  cargo  of  lumber,  while  a 
steamer  was  just  making  its  way  from  it  out  into  the 
ocean,  gracefully  rolling  to  the  motion  of  the  waves,  its 
brass  work  gleaming  in  the  sunlight  like  burnished 
gold. 

Going  now  to  the  west  window,  the  sight  which  met 
his  gaze  from  there  was  fully  as  beautiful,  and  Warren 
was  almost  tempted  to  pronounce  it  even  more  lovely 
than  the  first.  A  bend  in  the  coast  once  more  brought 
the  ocean  into  full  view.  Back,  miles  from  the  city, 
but  looking  almost  within  easy  walking  distance,  lay 
the  Sierra  Madre  Mountains,  bare,  wrinkled,  and  old 
looking,  their  summits  crowned  with  snow.  Between 
the  mountains  and  the  city  lay  the  foot-hills,  rising  in 
higher  and  higher  peaks  as  they  neared  the  mountains, 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  15 

their  sides  green  with  vegetation  and  their  tops  crested 
with  groups  of  live-oaks.  From  the  beach  there  ran  a 
broad,  straight  avenue  lined  on  either  side  with  pretty 
cottage  houses  embowered  in  ornamental  shrubbery, 
holding  its  course  straight  on  to  the  distant  mountains 
until,  winding  around  among  the  hills,  it  became  lost 
to  sight. 

Beyond  the  avenue  lay  the  Ventura  River,  glistening 
in  the  sunlight  like  a  silver  thread  as  it  hastened  on 
ward  to  mingle  its  waters  with  the  ocean.  On  one  of 
the  hills  back  of  the  city  and  immediately  above  the 
house  a  Chinaman  was  ploughing  with  two  white  horses, 
while  the  steep  sides  of  all  the  neighboring  hills  were 
already  green  with  young  vegetables  and  grain.  Alto 
gether  the  scene  was  like  a  glimpse  into  fairy-land  to 
one  who,  like  Warren,  had  only  a  few  days  before  been 
among  the  snow-covered  hills  of  the  East;  but  even 
fairy-land  will  not  long  charm  the  thoughts  of  a  young 
man  blessed  with  good  health  and  a  strong  appetite  who 
has  yet  to  breakfast,  and  whose  mind  is  preoccupied 
with  the  attempt  to  solve  a  difficulty  which,  like  that 
in  which  Warren  now  found  himself  involved,  was 
more  vexatious  than  serious. 

During  the  ten  minutes  required  to  walk  the  short 
distance  lying  between  his  lodgings  and  the  Hotel 
Anacapa,  where  he  had  arranged  to  board,  Warren's 
thoughts  were  busily  occupied  with  the  absurd  predica 
ment  in  which  he  found  himself  placed.  What  was  to 
be  done  ? 

All  through  his  breakfast  he  asked  himself  this  same 
question,  but  without  finding  himself  any  nearer  to  a 
satisfactory  answer. 


16  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"  I  wonder  if  Mitchell  is  here  yet  ?"  he  said  to  him 
self,  as  he  made  his  way  into  the  hotel-office.  "  He  is 
due,  and  I  sincerely  hope  that  he  has  arrived.  It  will 
do  no  harm  to  ask." 

"  Yes/'  the  clerk  replied  to  whom  Warren  proposed 
his  question,  Mr.  Mitchell  and  his  family  had  been 
at  the  house  since  Christmas.  They  were  all  of  them 
in,  or  at  least  he  thought  so ;  would  he  like  to  see  them  ? 
If  he  would  go  into  the  parlor  for  a  moment  word 
would  be  given  them  right  away. 

"  I  will  thank  you  to  take  my  card  to  Mr.  Mitchell," 
Warren  replied.  "  I  will  call  on  the  ladies  some  other 
time." 

Warren  had  hardly  seated  himself  by  the  glowing 
fire  cheerily  burning  in  the  fireplace  of  the  parlor  of 
the  Anacapa  before  his  friend  was  with  him,  overjoyed 
at  the  arrival  of  an  old  and  intimate  acquaintance  to  be 
a  fellow-sojourner  with  himself  and  his  family  among 
strangers  and  in  a  strange  land. 

"Well,  Warren,"  Mitchell  exclaimed,  shaking  him 
heartily  by  the  hand  as  he  spoke,  "  I  am  right  glad  to 
see  you;  I  had  almost  begun  to  give  you  up  and 
think  that  you  had  changed  your  mind  about  coming 
at  all." 

"  Oh,  no ;  I  did  not  come  out  as  you  did,  merely 
on  a  pleasure-trip,  so  I  needed  more  time  than  you  in 
preparations,  married  man  though  you  are,"  Warren 
replied. 

Mitchell  looked  doubtfully  into  his  friend's  face  for 
a  moment,  then  replied  by  a  question. 

"  You  don't  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  have  caught 
this  real-estate  fever  ?"  he  asked. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  17 

Warren  laughed,  though  a  little  uneasily,  and  as 
though  he  was  not,  after  all,  perfectly  satisfied  with 
himself. 

"Yes,  Mitchell,  I  have  determined  to  see  if  I  can 
manage  the  boom,"  he  answered. 

No  two  men  could  be  more  unlike  than  these  friends. 
"Warren  was  still  on  the  sunny  side  of  thirty,  and  in 
person  was  slender,  athletic,  and  above  the  medium 
height.  Mitchell,  on  the  contrary,  was  much  nearer 
forty  than  thirty,  and  while  he  was  not  positively  ugly, 
he  was  very  far  from  being  a  handsome  man.  He 
labored  under  the  threefold  disadvantage  of  being  too 
stout  for  his  height,  too  bald  for  his  years,  and  too 
near-sighted  for  his  own  comfort  or  that  of  his  friends. 

Warren  was  quick  to  learn  and  as  quick  to  forget ; 
he  was  always  on  the  watch  fc1*  some  new  enterprise 
and  was  constantly  on  the  search  for  some  new  excite 
ment,  and  it  was  these  traits  in  his  character  which  had 
brought  him  away  from  New  York  in  the  height  of 
the  season  to  become  a  speculator  in  Southern  Cali 
fornia. 

Mitchell,  on  the  other  hand,  was  slow  to  learn,  but 
when  he  once  had  mastered  an  idea  it  became  his  prop 
erty  ;  it  was  always  at  his  command  when  he  wanted 
to  use  it,  and  his  judgment  was,  from  this  fact,  highly 
valued  by  all  who  knew  him.  Warren,  in  short,  was 
"  a  good  fellow,"  Mitchell  was  a  valuable  man.  Un 
like  as  they  were  these  two  men  were  the  closest  of 
friends,  each  finding  in  the  other  points  which  sup 
plied  his  own  deficiencies. 

Mitchell's  face  expressed  the  gravest  disapproval 
as  he  listened  to  Warren's  announcement  of  this  new 

b  2* 


18  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

business  project  in  which  he  was  already  embarked. 
Wiping  his  glasses  he  put  them  on  again,  and  sat 
thoughtfully  looking  at  his  friend  through  them  with 
out  speaking. 

"  What  is  it,  Mitchell  ?"  Warren  asked,  shifting  un 
easily  under  his  friend's  scrutiny.  "What  are  you 
staring  at  ?  Do  you  see  some  great  change  in  me  since 
we  last  met, — symptoms  of  early  decline,  or  the 
like?" 

"  No,  not  that.  I  was  looking  for  wildness  in  the 
eyes.  I  gathered  from  your  conversation  that  you 
were  threatened  with  insanity ;  it  may  be  incipient  im 
becility,  however,"  Mitchell  answered. 

"Come,  be  reasonable,"  Warren  said,  impatiently. 
"  You  have  always  been  preaching  to  me  about  wasting 
my  time  and  letting  my  abilities  run  to  seed,  and  all 
that ;  and  the  very  moment  that  I  tell  you  that  I  have 
come  to  California  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  work, 
you  call  me  an  idiot  and  a  lunatic." 

"Warren,  as  a  truthful  man,  do  you  mean  to  say 
that  in  turning  speculator  you  are  following  my  ad 
vice  ?"  Mitchell  asked,  his  tone  almost  severe. 

"  Not  in  the  letter,  perhaps,  as  you  simply  told  me 
to  put  out  my  shingle  and  go  practising  law,  and  did 
not  mention  any  other  pursuit  in  connection  with  it ;  but 
as  all  the  lawyers  out  here  combine  real-estate  broker 
age  with  the  practice  of  their  profession,  you  see  that  I 
am  not  straying  so  very  far  from  the  straight  and  nar 
row  way  marked  out  for  me  by  your  wisdom,  after 
all,"  Warren  answered. 

Mitchell  shook  his  head.  "Hardly,"  he  said. 
"This  present  real-estate  craze  is  something  like  the 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  jg 

gold  excitement  of  '49,  only  it  won't  last  quite  as  long. 
Like  that  craze  it  is  going  to  do  a  tremendous  sight  of 
mischief,  while  it  will  do  some  good  by  turning  at 
tention  to  this  country,  whose  advantages  in  soil  and 
climate  are  all  that  they  are  said  to  be,  even  in  the 
prospectus  of  the  wildest  speculator.  Meanwhile,  a 
few  gulls  are  going  to  be  plucked,  and  I  am  sorry  that 
you  are  to  be  one  of  them ;  however,  it  is  too  late  to 
talk  of  that  now ;  your  arrangements  are  all  made,  of 
course?'' 

"  Yes ;  I  entered  into  partnership  before  I  left 
home,"  Warren  answered. 

"Who  with?"  Mitchell  asked. 

"  Glenn.  I  don't  suppose  you  ever  heard  of  him," 
Warren  answered. 

"  No ;  I  don't  pay  much  attention  to  real  estate,  but 
how  did  you  arrange  it?" 

"  Through  a  mutual  friend  who  recommended  us  to 
one  another,  and  we  arranged  the  partnership  by  cor 
respondence,"  Warren  explained. 

"  Well,  I  hope  that  you  won't  get  fleeced  too  badly," 
was  the  only  answer  he  vouchsafed ;  then  abruptly 
dropping  the  subject,  he  said,  "  Let  me  call  the  ladies." 

"Not  yet,"  Warren  hastily  returned.  "To  tell  the 
truth,  I  have  begun  my  life  out  here  with  a  very  un 
pleasant  experience,  and  I  want  to  talk  it  over  with 
you." 

"All  right;  I  am  altogether  at  your  service/' 
Mitchell  answered,  again  sitting  down,  wondering 
what  misfortune  his  friend's  speculative  mania  could 
have  brought  on  him  so  early  in  his  career. 

Warren   blushed,  looked  very  foolish,   then   began 


20  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

with  an  air  of  desperation :  "  To  tell  the  simple  facts 
of  the  case,  and  this  is  what  I  want  to  do,  I  have  got 
to  put  myself  completely  into  your  power.  Now, 
Mitchell,  if  I  give  you  my  confidence  as  fully  as  this, 
I  want  you  to  promise  not  to  betray  me  even  to  your 
wife." 

What  had  his  friend  been  doing  ?  Had  he  already 
swindled  some  one  so  outrageously  before  he  had  been 
twenty-four  hours  in  the  business,  or  had  even  seen  his 
first  sunset  in  Ventura,  that  he  was  involved  in  a  seri 
ous  lawsuit  so  soon  ?  It  was  not  at  all  like  Warren  : 
he  was  a  straightforward  and  honorable  fellow,  and  it 
did  not  seem  possible  that  even  his  craze  for  speculation 
could  have  so  altogether  transformed  him.  As  these 
thoughts  flashed  through  Mitchell's  mind  he  once 
more  took  off  his  glasses,  wiped  them,  put  them  on, 
and  stared  hard  at  Warren,  saying  in  a  tone  into  which 
he  threw  only  half  the  astonishment  he  felt,  "  In  the 
name  of  goodness,  what  have  you  been  up  to  ?" 

"  Nothing,  Mitchell,  nothing  at  all,"  Warren  hastily 
replied.  "  It  was  not  my  fault ;  it  was  not  anybody's 
fault ;  there  is  no  blame  anywhere.  I  am  in  a  ridicu 
lous  scrape  all  the  same,  though,  and  if  you  give  me 
away  to  your  wife  I  -know  it  will  get  out,  and  I  shall 
be  a  laughing-stock  to  the  end  of  my  days."  And 
again  Warren  shuddered  as  he  thought  of  the  anxious 
inquiries  concerning  the  state  of  his  wardrobe  with 
which  he  would  be  greeted  on  his  return  to  New  York 
by  all  his  acquaintances  in  case  Mitchell  should  con 
sider  the  joke  too  good  to  keep ;  while  it  required  only 
a  slight  exercise  of  the  imagination  on  his  part  to  pic 
ture  to  himself  the  conscious  yet  amused  glances  which 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  21 

his  young  lady  friends  would  cast  upon  him ;  for  of 
course  through  husbands  and  brothers  the  "joke" 
would  get  to  their  knowledge,  as  such  things  always 
do. 

"  I  give  you  my  word,  Warren,  that  if  you  have 
anything  to  tell  me  which  ought  to  be  kept,  I  will 
treat  it  as  a  professional  secret/7  Mitchell  answered. 
And  drawing  his  chair  close  to  that  of  his  friend,  so 
that  no  one  could  overhear  them  in  case  a  third  party 
should  enter  the  parlor,  Warren  proceeded  to  unfold 
his  tale  of  woe. 

At  first  a  look  of  blank  amazement  overspread 
Mitchell's  face ;  then  his  eyes  twinkled  merrily  as  he 
listened,  while  his  sides  shook  with  suppressed  laughter, 
but  not  a  sound  escaped  his  lips.  When  Warren  con 
cluded  his  story  he  rose  from  his  chair  saying,  "  I  will 
be  as  silent  as  the  grave,  old  fellow,  you  may  depend 
upon  me.  Not  one  word  of  this  affair  will  I  breathe 
to  a  living  soul.  But  let  me  call  the  ladies  now." 

"  Wait !  You  have  not  advised  me  what  to  do  or 
how  to  act,"  Warren  protested.  Mitchell  merely 
laughed.  The  absurdity  of  his  friend's  situation 
seemed  to  impress  him  more  forcibly  than  its  un 
pleasantness,  and  he  remained  most  aggravatingly  un 
sympathetic. 

"  Oh,  your  case  is  by  no  means  desperate.  If  worst 
comes  to  worst  you  can  buy  yourself  another  outfit, 
you  know,"  Mitchell  heartlessly  answered. 

Warren  began  to  be  very  angry  with  his  friend ;  he 
had  never  known  him  to  be  so  cold-blooded  and  in 
different  before ;  it  was  not  like  his  usual  self  at  all, 
and  he  could  not  understand  his  manner. 


22  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"That  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  case  at  all/' 
Warren  answered,  showing  his  vexation  both  in  voice 
and  manner.  "  What  I  want  to  know  is,  what  am  I 
to  do  with  those  confounded  traps  up  in  my  room  ?  I 
can't  let  them  be  seen." 

Again  Mitchell  laughed.  "Oh,  I  am  not  ready 
with  my  advice  on  that  score  yet/'  he  answered.  "  Just 
be  patient  and  I  will  help  you  out  of  the  scrape  in 
some  way,  trust  me  for  that.  Brit  I  am  going  to  call 
the  ladies.  You  have  never  met  my  wife's  sister,  I 
believe  ?" 

"  No ;  I  have  always  been  deprived  of  that  pleasure 
by  some  adverse  fate.  Is  she  with  you  now  ?" 

"Yes.  We  left  her  to  visit  a  friend  of  hers  in  Los 
Angeles  and  she  came  on  to  join  us  last  evening.  You 
and  she  both  chose  a  fine  day  for  travelling.  And,  by 
the  way,  you  came  up  on  the  same  train,  so  you  must 
have  seen  each  other." 

"That  does  not  follow,  for  I  rode  the  entire  dis 
tance  in  the  smoker;  but  I  wish  I  had  known  she 
was  on  the  train." 

"Under  those  circumstances  you  probably  did  not 
see  her,  for  she  seldom  travels  in  that  car ;  but  excuse 
me  for  a  moment,"  Mitchell  rejoined.  After  an  ab 
sence  of  ten  minutes  he  returned  accompanied  by  a 
very  pretty  girl,  whose  dark  eyes,  at  once  soft  and 
brilliant,  were  the  certain  indications  of  an  amiable 
disposition,  keen  wit,  and  high  spirits. 

"  My  wife  is  not  in,  so  you  will  have  to  excuse  her ; 
I  have  brought  her  sister,  however.  Miss  Wade,  my 
friend  Mr.  Warren,"  he  said,  introducing  them. 

As  they  bowed  in  acknowledgment  he  maliciously 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  23 

added,  "  I  find  that  each  one  of  you  rejoices  in  the  pos 
session  of  initials  to  which  the  other  can  also  establish  a 
claim,  while  each  of  you  is  made  unhappy  by  a  wind 
fall  as  unwelcome  as  it  is  useless  to  you ;  now,  I  have 
promised  not  to  say  a  word  about  this  business,  and  I 
would  die  before  I  would  break  faith  with  either  one 
of  you,  so  not  a  single  syllable  shall  escape  my  lips 
about  it,  you  may  trust  me  implicitly  on  that  score, 
but  I  will  just  leave  you  to  arrange  matters  to  suit 
yourselves.  May  you  be  prosperous  and  happy !"  And 
with  these  words  he  left  the  room  chuckling  audibly, 
while  Warren  and  Miss  Wade  stood  looking  at  each 
other  in  embarrassed  silence. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

years  ago,  when  making  a  pedestrian  tour,  I 
came  to  a  river  of  considerable  width  and  decidedly 
deep  which  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  cross.  There 
was  no  bridge,  I  could  not  swim,  while  it  would  have 
been  very  inconvenient  for  me  to  adopt  that  method 
of  transit  even  had  I  understood  the  science  (so  I 
must  call  it,  I  suppose,  now  that  it  is  dignified  by 
"professors").  The  only  means  of  crossing  open  to 
me,  so  far  as  I  could  see,  was  a  huge  tree  which  had 
fallen  across  the  stream  and  whose  top  was  apparently 
firmly  held  by  two  trees  standing  side  by  side  upon 
the  opposite  bank,  between  which  it  had  lodged  in 
falling.  In  this  I  had  found,  as  I  supposed,  a  secure 
bridge  ready  at  my  need.  But  alas  for  human  calcula 
tions  !  Thinking  only  of  a  possible  danger  more  or 
less  remote,  I  neglected  to  attend  to  the  actual  perils 
close  At  hand.  The  fallen  tree  was  anchored  to  the 
bank  on  which  I  was  standing  only  by  the  frailest  of 
roots,  and  it  needed  nothing  but  my  added  weight  to 
plunge  both  my  bridge  and  -myself  into  the  water, 
from  which  I  struggled  out  a  miserable  wretch ;  wet 
and  muddy  as  to  my  person,  wrathful  and  unhappy 
as  to  my  mind. 

Now  Warren,  when  he  found  himself  confronted  by 

Miss  Wade,  and  plunged  by  Mitchell  into  the  worst 

aspect  of  those  very  difficulties  out  of  which  he  was 

trusting  to  this  friend  to  deliver  him;  when  he  saw 

24 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  25 

that  he  was  ruthlessly  abandoned  to  extricate  himself 
from  this  plight  as  best  he  could,  felt  very  much  as  I 
did  when  I  found  myself  betrayed  by  my  tree  many 
years  ago.  Morally  he  was  very  much  in  the  same 
plight  in  which  I  then  found  myself  physically, — he 
was  almost  helpless,  miserable,  and  abject. 

Miss  Wade  stood  before  him  without  a  word,  her 
face  burning  with  confusion ;  while  Warren,  in  his  turn, 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  found  himself  alone  in  the 
company  of  a  pretty  and  interesting  young  lady  to 
whom  he  had  not  a  single  word  to  say.  All  this  time, 
however,  that  he  stood  in  speechless  embarrassment 
before  his  charming  companion,  he  felt  a  strong  inward 
conviction  that  when  he  once  more  found  himself  alone 
with  Mitchell  he  would  be  at  no  loss  for  words,  but 
would  be  able  to  express  himself  freely  and  forcibly  in 
regard  to  his  friend's  behavior  on  this  occasion. 

Deep  as  was  his  sympathy  for  himself  in  this  em 
barrassing  situation,  Warren's  compassion  for  Miss 
Wade  was  even  more  profound,  and  he  felt  a  sincere 
anxiety  to  lessen  her  confusion  and  relieve  her  unhap- 
piness ;  so,  gathering  together  as  many  of  his  faculties 
as  surprise  and  embarrassment  had  left  under  his  imme 
diate  control,  he  said, — 

"  I  am  most  happy  to  meet  you,  Miss  Wade.  In 
deed,  I  have  so  often  heard  your  name  mentioned  by 
your  sister  and  Mr.  Mitchell  that  I  already  look  upon 
you  almost  as  an  old  acquaintance,  though  I  wish  that 
my  friend  had  arranged  for  our  first  meeting  under 
circumstances  which  would  have  made  the  pleasure 
attended  by  no  sense  of  pain." 

"  I  sympathize  with  you  cordially  in  that  sentiment, 


26  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Mr.  Warren/7  Miss  Wade  answered,  with  a  light  in  her 
eyes  which  gave  promise  that  Mr.  Mitchell  would  find 
his  "joke77  bringing  upon  his  head  the  full  weight  of 
her  displeasure.  "  I  think  that  my  brother-in-law  has 
shown  himself  less  than  friendly  to  you  and  certainly 
less  than  kind  to  me." 

Warren  placed  a  chair  for  her,  and  as  she  seated  her 
self  he  went  to  the  fireplace,  and  resting  one  foot  on 
the  fender  he  hesitated  a  moment,  as  though  in  doubt  as 
to  what  he  should  say  next.  The  simple  truth  is,  that 
never  in  his  life  had  he  been  so  thoroughly  uncom 
fortable  ;  while  never  before,  since  the  boyish  and 
awkward  days  of  his  dancing-school  miseries,  had  the 
society  of  an  attractive  and  handsome  young  lady 
possessed  the  power  of  making  him  thoroughly  and 
unspeakably  wretched. 

"  Of  course  I  understand  what  Mitchell  intended," 
he  said  after  a  moment's  silence ;  "  as  my  intimate  friend 
of  many  years'  standing  and  your  brother-in-law,  he 
took  the  advantage  of  the  close  relations  existing  be 
tween  himself  and  each  one  of  us  to  derive  amuse 
ment  for  himself  at  our  expense,  without  stopping  to 
consider  that  you  and  I  are  perfect  strangers  to  one 
another." 

"  There  you  are  naming  the  very  point  he  should  not 
have  forgotten,  Mr.  Warren,"  Miss  Wade  answered, 
her  strong  indignation  against  her  brother-in-law  ap 
pearing  in  the  tones  of  her  voice. 

"  Very  true ;  and  I  shall  make  every  effort  to  con 
vince  him  of  the  fact,"  Warren  replied. 

Again  there  was  silence.  Evidently  nothing  was  to 
be  gained  by  longer  postponing  the  evil  day.  It  was 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  27 

just  as  evident  that  Miss  Wade  could  not  first  broach 
the  matter  which  must  be  discussed  between  them.  As 
that  which  must  be  done  had  best  be  done  quickly, 
Warren  at  once  plunged  into  the  very  midst  of  the 
subject. 

"Miss  Wade,"  he  said,  "it  seems  that  you  and  I 
bear  the  same  initials.  While  I  feel  honored  by  the 
fact,  it  has  its  inconvenient  as  well  as — to  me,  that  is — 
pleasing  features ;  and  it  has  placed  us  at  the  present 
moment  in  very  embarrassing  relations  to  one  another. 
I  am,  as  of  course  you  are  aware,  possessed  of  property 
belonging  to  you,  while  you  have  accidentally  obtained 
my  belongings.  On -my  return  to  my  room  I  will  at 
once  restore  your  property  to  you,  and  will,  at  your  con 
venience,  relieve  you  of  what  must  have  been  to  you 
an  annoying  and  distressing  charge.  And  permit  me, 
Miss  Wade,  to  most  sincerely  express  my  regret  for  the 
distress  that  my  mistake  has  caused  you,  and  I  hope 
you  will  pardon  the  blunder." 

Miss  Wade  blushed  crimson.  Without  raising  her 
eyes,  she  replied,  "I  thank  you,  Mr.  Warren.  The 
adventure  must  have  been  as  annoying  to  you  as  to  me, 
and  in  committing  the  mistake  I  do  not  doubt  that  we 
are  equally  responsible,  while  neither  one  of  us  is  in  the 
least  to  blame." 

Warren  bowed.  "  It  is  good  of  you  to  say  so,"  he 
answered ;  then  at  once  abruptly,  changing  a  subject 
painful  to  both,  he  went  on :  "  In  California  the  one 
absorbing  topic  of  conversation  is  the  country  and  its 
wonderful  climate ;  that  is,  among  the  men  at  least.  I 
gather  from  what  Mitchell  says  that  you  have  been 
here  long  enough  now  to  be  no  longer  reckoned  among 


28  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

the  new-comers,  so  perhaps  this  topic  no  longer  pos 
sesses  interest  to  you." 

Mollie  began  to  feel  more  at  her  ease  now  that  that 
wretched  business  was  disposed  of,  so  she  laughed  as 
she  answered,  "  I  have  been  in  the  State  almost  three 
months  now.  Were  I  intending  to  make  it  my  home 
here  that  would  give  me  the  right  to  call  myself  an 
old  Californian,  would  it  not?" 

Warren  laughed  in  his  turn  as  he  replied,  "  That  is 
the  law,  I  believe.  But  custom  also  prescribes  that  a 
good  Californian  should  stand  loyally  by  his  section : 
he  must  never  by  any  chance  admit  that  he  can 
possibly  be  ignorant  upon  any  topic  concerning  the 
country,  its  interests  or  its  possibilities  :  he  must  always 
proclaim  to  the  world-  the  richness  of  the  soil,  the 
inexhaustible  mineral  resources,  and  the  glories  of  the 
climate  in  his  section ;  he  must  carefully  keep  back 
any  possible  disadvantages  that  may  exist,  however 
slight ;  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least,  if  a  new-comer, 
he  must  evade  the  question  as  to  how  long  he  has  been 
here, — all  these  are  the  qualities  of  a  good  Californian, 
and  I  am  already  making  them  my  own." 

For  the  first  time  during  their  interview  Miss  Wade 
lifted  her  eyes  to  his  face ;  now,  meeting  his  with  a 
swift  glance,  half  of  inquiry,  half  of  amusement,  she 
answered,  "  You  seem  to  understand  the  customs  of 
the  people  here  thoroughly.  You  have  been  more 
profoundly  observant  of  their  character  and  prejudices 
in  your  residence  of  twenty-four  hours  than  I  in  my 
three  months'  sojourn.  Do  you  intend  to  make  Ven 
tura  your  home  ?" 

"  I  have  not  decided ;   indeed,  my  answer  to  that 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  29 

question  will  altogether  depend  upon  circumstances, 
and  that  I  may  fairly  discuss  that  topic  with  you  I 
must  begin  by  making  a  confession  and  admitting  that 
I  have  been  an  alarmingly  idle  man/'  Warren  re 
plied. 

"  The  old,  old  story  of  great  gifts  and  rich  endow 
ments  allowed  to  run  to  waste  :  is  that  your  meaning  ?" 
she  asked,  again  glancing  at  him  swiftly. 

Again  Warren  laughed,  but  this  time  a  trifle  un 
easily,  for  he  felt  a  painful  suspicion  that  he  was  being 
quizzed. 

"  I  can  hardly  say  that/7  he  answered.  "  But  I  do 
mean  that,  since  stern  necessity  did  not  spur  me  on 
and  compel  me  to  work,  I  have  fallen  into  the  long 
procession  of  do-nothings.  However,  here  I  am  in 
California,  and,  strangest  of  all,  filled  with  a  strong 
desire  to  become  industrious,  and  actually  embarked  in 
business.  So  I  suppose  this  will  be  my  home,  if  I 
succeed.  It  is  a  change  from  New  York  and  my  life 
there,  is  it  not  ?" 

"  A  decided  change.  What  has  worked  so  great  a 
miracle  ?"  she  said,  answering  his  question  by  another. 

"Oh,  that  great  worker  of  all  modem  miracles, 
California  and  the  interest  it  is  exciting  in  the  East. 
You  are  an  Easterner ;  is  not  my  explanation  complete?" 

"  It  is  perfect !"  she  answered,  clasping  her  hands  in 
pretended  enthusiasm.  "I  cannot  imagine  any  less 
powerful  agent  changing  a  New  York  society  man  into 
a  Western  pioneer.  But  frankly,  I  do  not  wonder  at 
your  coming,  neither  shall  I  wonder  if  you  stay.  One 
hears  so  much  about  the  wonders  of  Southern  Cali 
fornia  in  these  days  that  one  wishes  to  see  her  marvels 

3* 


30  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

for  one's  self.  Then,  when  one  gets  here,  there  is  such 
a  fascination  about  the  scenery,  the  climate,  and  the 
free  and  joyous  out-door  life,  that  one  wishes  to  stay. 
The  glamour  of  the  tropics  is  over  it  all." 

Decidedly  he  did  like  the  girl.  Although  their  in 
troduction  had  been  so  very  much  out  of  the  common  at 
the  first  that  it  had  taken  all  possibility  of  pleasure 
out  of  their  meeting,  he  now  felt  thoroughly  convinced 
that  her  acquaintance  was  well  worth  all  the  distress 
their  first  meeting  had  cost  him.  She  was  a  very 
bright  girl ;  she  was  thoroughly  independent ;  and  as 
he  expressed  it  in  his  conscious  masculine  superiority, 
"  she  had  ideas." 

At  that  moment  the  door  opened  and  Mrs.  Mitchell 
hurried  into  the  parlor.  A  fresh,  breezy  little  woman 
with  a  bright  and  pleasant  face;  no  one,  from  her 
manner,  would  have  thought  that  at  that  very  moment 
Mitchell  was  sitting  up-stairs  in  his  room  thinking 
with  hardened  impenitence  upon  a  severe  lecture  from 
her  lips  concerning  his  shameless  and  unfeeling  con 
duct  towards  these  two  young  people  who,  above  all 
others  in  the  world,  had  the  greatest  claims  upon  his 
consideration.  Greeting  "Warren  with  the  cordial  free 
dom  of  an  old  friend  she  said,  "  At  last  you  have  come, 
and  you  cannot  imagine  how  glad  we  are  to  see  you, 
or  how  much  good  it  will  do  us  to  have  you  here. 
And  to  think  that  you  are  actually  going  to  stay  !  I 
am  glad  that  you  and  Mollie  have  at  last  become  ac 
quainted  ;  and  of  course,  like  all  the  other  lotos-eaters, 
you  are  thinking  and  talking  of  nothing  but  California 
and  its  wonders." 

Mollie  and  Warren  glanced  at  one  another,  again 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  31 

their  eyes  met  for  an  instant,  and  both  laughed  as  he 
answered,  "  I  plead  guilty ;  but  let  it  be  my  all-suffi 
cient  excuse  that  I  have  found  this  the  one  theme  not 
only  in  the  State  but  among  all  the  travellers  coming 
to  it." 

"Yes,"  Miss  Wade  interposed,  "as  Effie  says,  we 
Americans  are  now  seeing  the  old  Homeric  myth  illus 
trated  in  real  life.  We  are  all  of  us  either  lotos- 
eaters,  or  else  we  are  hungering  for  an  opportunity  to 
taste  the  fated  leaf." 

Warren  rose  from  his  chair,  and  going  to  the  window 
looked  out  over  the  picture  displayed  before  him,  say 
ing,  "  Is  not  this  enough  to  make  one  forget  home,  and 
country,  and  his  father's  house  ?  It  is  like  living  in  an 
atmosphere  of  poetry.  But  you  must  visit  me  in  my 
domicile,  for  I  think  my  outlook  surpasses  even  this, 
for  it  takes  in  the  mountains  as  well  as  the  city,  and 
the  ocean." 

"  Where  are  you  residing  ?"  Mrs.  Mitchell  asked. 

"  On  Poli  Street,  with  Mrs.  Elkins.  I  wish  you  to 
know  her,  for  she  interested  me  immediately  on  meeting 
her.  I  know  I  shall  find  her  a  study  in  human  nature, 
what  is  technically  called  a  character,  you  know." 

"Why,  Mr.  Warren,  you  are  planning  for  a  busy 
life,  are  you  not  ?  combining  the  pursuit  of  moral  anat 
omy  with  dealings  in  real  estate.  From  what  I  had 
seen  of  Californians  I  had  formed  the  idea  that  the  law 
of  their  life  was  to  combine  the  least  possible  amount 
of  business  with  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  pleas 
ure  ;  but  you  seem  to  be  reversing  this  law, — unless, 
perhaps,  scientific  research  be  recreation  to  you !" 
Miss  Wade  exclaimed. 


32  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"Warren  glanced  at  her  keenly  with  a  renewal  of  the 
uneasy  feeling  that  he  was  being  quizzed.  He  wished 
that  he  knew  whether  the  girl  were  laughing  at  him  or 
not,  though  he  strongly  suspected  that  she  was;  his 
suspicions  were  immediately  strengthened  by  his  de 
tecting  the  glance  which  her  sister  cast  at  her,  half 
amused,  half  reproachful,  as  she  said,  in  answer  to 
Warren's  remark, — 

"What  did  you  mean  by  calling  your  landlady  a 
character,  Mr.  Warren?  I  hope,  for  your  own  peace 
of  mind,  that  you  are  not  lodging  with  one  of  those 
horrible  specimens  of  eccentricity  and  disagreeableness 
who  usually  receive  that  title." 

"  Oh,  no,  not  quite  so  bad  as  that ;  she  is  a  Califor 
nia  Yankee/7  he  answered,  drawing  on  his  gloves  as 
he  spoke. 

"  You  must  be  more  explicit,"  she  said ;  "  that  leaves 
us  in  even  deeper  darkness  than  before.  What  is  a 
California  Yankee?" 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  ready  with  an  exact  defini 
tion,  though  the  idea  is  clear  to  my  own  mind,"  War 
ren  answered.  "  My  landlady  will  have  to  serve  as  an 
illustration,  therefore.  She  is  a  native  daughter  of  the 
Golden  West,  but  she  possesses  the  true  Yankee  physi 
ognomy.  She  is  very  tall,  but  thin  and  active;  and 
even  with  my  short  acquaintance  I  can  see  that  she 
suffers  under  a  continual  apprehension  that  some  one 
is  anxious  to  infringe  upon  her  rights  and  sacred  pre 
rogatives  ;  all  of  these  traits  are  characteristic  of  the 
Yankee.  So,  you  see,  although  I  am  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land,  being  by  birth  a  Yankee  myself,  I  find 
that  she  makes  me  feel  quite  at  home." 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  33 

"  "We  will  come  and  see  for  ourselves,  Mr.  Warren. 
Must  you  go  ?  Do  come  and  see  us  every  day/'  Mrs. 
Mitchell  entreated. 

"  We  shall  meet  at  the  table  every  day,  for  this  is  to 
be  my  boarding-place,"  Warren  answered.  "And  as 
for  further  visiting, — well,  as  Miss  Wade  says,  I  am  to 
be  a  busy  man  ;  but  where  is  Mitchell  ?" 

"You  will  find  him  lip-stairs,"  Mrs.  Mitchell 
answered. 

Taking  leave  of  the  ladies,  Warren  went  to  his 
friend's  room  for  the  purpose  of  pouring  forth  upon 
his  too  jovial  head  the  full  contents  of  the  vials  of  his 
wrath.  He  found  upon  analyzing  his  feelings  that  his 
anger  was  by  no  means  as  fierce  as  it  had  been :  his 
fury  had  been  greatly  appeased  by  his  pleasant  visit, 
and  Miss  Wade's  acquaintance  was  certainly  well 
worth  whatever  annoyance  he  had  experienced  in  its 
making.  Yes,  she  certainly  was  a  very  pretty  girl  and 
he  liked  her  very  much  :  he  hoped  that  she  liked  him. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  our  friend,  Mollie  ?"  Mrs. 
Mitchell  asked  after  he  was  gone. 

"Why,  to  tell  the  truth,  I  had  not  thought  about 
him  at  all.  Is  it  necessary  that  I  should  ?"  she  an 
swered,  indifferently. 

Her. sister  was  inclined  to  be  vexed  with  her  for 
turning  her  words  in  this  way. 

"  What  a  girl  you  are,  Mollie  !"  she  answered.  "  You 
know  perfectly  well  what  I  mean.  I  hope  that,  as  we 
like  him  so  much,  you  will  be  good  friends  with  him 
also." 

"Oh,  so  far  as  that  is  concerned,  I  do  not  dislike 
him  at  all.  He  is  well  enough  in  his  way,  like  every 


34  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

other  commonplace  young  man  of  the  period/'  Mol- 
lie  answered,  still  supremely  indifferent,  and  apparently 
a  trifle  bored  by  the  subject  under  discussion. 

"It  was  a  perfect  shame  of  John  Addison  to  treat 
you  two  as  he  did,"  Mrs.  Mitchell  went  on,  now  becom 
ing  vehement  in  language  and  gesture  as  she  touched 
upon  the  injury  done  to  her  sister  and  her  friend. 

Miss  Wade  blushed,  but  answered  very  quietly, 
"  Of  course  it  was  painfully  embarrassing  to  us  both ; 
but  Mr.  Warren  was  not  at  all  to  blame,  and  he  be 
haved  very  handsomely.  As  far  as  any  friendship 
between  us  is  concerned,  that  will  altogether  depend 
upon  his  merits,  and  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  our 
meeting  will  not  affect  that  in  the  least." 

"Certainly  not,"  Mrs.  Mitchell  assented,  although 
she  knew  perfectly  well  that  her  sister  was  not  at  all 
like  other  women  if  these  did  not  influence  her  mind 
against  the  man.  Then  she  resumed  the  subject,  an 
swering  her  sister's  criticism  of  Warren,  "  As  for  Mr. 
Warren  being  simply  a  young  man  of  the  period,  he 
certainly  is  not  that.  I  admit  that  he  has  never  done 
anything  in  his  profession,  because  he  has  not  felt  the 
necessity ;  but  if  circumstances  were  to  call  out  what  is 
in  him,  you  would  certainly  find  him  more  than  an 
average  young  man,  and  the  simple  fact  that .  he  has 
come  out  here  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  work  shows 
you  that  he  does  amount  to  something,  does  it  not  ?" 

"  I  don't  call  his  enterprise  work,  Erne,"  Miss  Wade 
answered,  with  a  contemptuous  curl  of  the  lip.  "It 
looks  to  me  very  much  like  gambling;  simply  a 
scheme  devised  by  a  rich  young  man  to  increase  his 
fortune  without  doing  anything  to  earn  it." 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  35 

"Are  you  sure  you  are  not  prejudiced,  Mollie?" 
Mrs.  Mitchell  asked,  wishing  to  awaken  her  sister  to  a 
realization  of  the  injustice  she  was  doing  Warren  by 
the  sweeping  accusation  she  had  brought  against  the 
young  man  and  his  motives,  but  too  wise  to  deepen  her 
antagonism  by  discussing  the  point. 

"  Prejudiced  ?"  Miss  Wade  replied,  as  though  sur 
prised  beyond  expression  at  the  very  suspicion  of  such 
a  thing.  "  Certainly,  I  am  not  prejudiced  in  the  least. 
Why  should  I  be  ?  I  see  no  reason  for  prejudice  on 
my  part,  since  I  know  so  very  little  about  the  man ; 
and  I  can  find  no  sufficient  reason  why  I  should  have 
any  opinion  about  him  either  good  or  bad.  Or,  for 
that  matter,  why  I  should  feel  any  interest  in  him  now 
that  I  have  recovered  my  property,"  she  added,  with  a 
laugh. 

It  would  do  no  good  to  press  the  argument  any  fur 
ther  ;  this  was  a  matter  which  time,  and  time  alone, 
could  deal  with, — provided  it  ever  were  successfully 
dealt  with.  Mrs.  Mitchell  saw  this,  and  wisely  dis 
missed  the  whole  subject,  simply  saying  in  reply, 
"  Very  well,  Mollie,  we  will  leave  it  that  way,  then." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

IT  was  late  in  the  evening  before  Warren  returned 
to  his  lodgings.  As  the  night  was  perfect,  the  moon 
being  at  the  full,  and  not  a  cloud  even  so  large  as  a 
man's  hand  was  visible  in  the  heavens,  he  had  inten 
tionally  taken  the  longest  route  to  his  room  for  the 
sake  of  walking  along  the  beach  and  watching  the 
ocean  by  moonlight.  His  way  home  led  him  through 
the  Plaza,  which  was  a  good-sized  plot  of  ground  origi 
nally  intended  for  a  public  park,  but  as  it  still  remained 
unimproved  it  was  never  used,  and  very  seldom  was 
even  crossed  except  as  a  short  cut  between  the  intersect 
ing  streets. 

Warren  was  sauntering  along  enjoying  the  pleasant 
evening  and  inhaling  the  soft  air,  fragrant  with  the 
odor  of  roses  and  orange-blossoms,  when  the  sound  of 
voices  made  him  aware  that  he  was  never  less  alone 
than  when  alone ;  though  in  this  instance,  at  least,  he 
was  compelled  to  interpret  the  words  in  an  entirely 
different  sense  from  that  in  which  the  great  (and  one 
must  also  fear,  conceited)  originator  of  the  saying  in 
tended. 

Looking  across  the  Plaza  in  the  direction  of  the 
voices,  Warren  saw  a  young  man  and  woman  seated 
upon  the  trunk  of  a  eucalyptus-tree  which  had  been 
felled  in  order  to  make  way  for  further  improvements ; 
and  so  deeply  were  they  interested  in  one  another  that 
they  were  altogether  oblivious  of  all  the  world  beside. 
36 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  37 

In  the  young  man  Warren  at  once  recognized  no  less  a 
personage  than  the  son  of  his  landlady,  Jake  Elkins  by 
name ;  an  ungainly,  overgrown,  good-natured  fellow  of 
twenty-two  years  or  thereabouts ;  while  the  girl's  soft 
voice  and  peculiar  accent  proved  her  to  be  a  native 
daughter  of  the  soil,  either  of  Mexican  or  Spanish- 
American  blood. 

A  more  hopeless  hero  for  a  romance  than  our  friend 
Jake  Elkins  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  By  all 
the  laws  of  romantic  art,  a  hero,  to  be  interesting, 
should  be  as  graceful  as  Apollo,  while  he  should  also 
be  possessed  of  dove-like,  melting  eyes.  Now  our  friend 
Jake  had  neither  of  these  attributes.  If  he  could  be 
fittingly  compared  to  any  of  the  classic  heathen  deities, 
the  most  partial  of  his  friends  would  have  been  com- 
pelled  to  admit  that  he  had  far  more  of  Silenus  than  of 
Apollo  in  his  physical  appearance.  Let  it  be  a  suffi 
cient  description  of  his  person  to  say  that  he  was 
twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  that  he  weighed  two  hun 
dred  pounds ;  while  as  for  his  eyes,  they  were  certainly 
not  dove-like,  and  they  had  never  learned  the  art  of 
melting. 

Yet  this  unheroic  hero  was  endowed  with  one  heroic 
attribute  at  least,  for  it  was  clear  to  the  most  unsympa 
thetic  observer  that  he  was  most  devotedly  in  love.  A 
single  glance  in  the  direction  of  the  young  couple  was 
sufficient  to  reveal  this  fact  to  Warren;  and  as  he 
walked  along,  this  love-scene  in  real  life  called  to  his 
mind  a  love-scene  he  had  just  been  reading  of  in  one 
of  the  last  novels  written  by  the  "  Prophetess  of  Pas 
sion,"  and  that  so  forcibly  that  he  burst  into  a  laugh. 

There,  the  fair  young  authoress  describes  her  hero  as 
4 


38  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

flinging  himself  upon  his  knees  before  the  heroine  and 
pressing  "  his  lips  now  on  one  foot,  now  on  the  other ; 
then,  kneeling  up,  he  kissed  her  dress,  her  knees,  her 
waist,  her  arms,"  and  last  of  all,  their  lips  "  clung  into 
a  kiss." 

"  Could  Jake's  two  hundred  pounds  of  humanity  be 
successfully  cast  at  the  feet  of  his  Iberian  divinity  ?" 
Warren  asked  of  himself,  as  he  sauntered  up  the  steep 
street  towards  his  lodgings,  idly  switching  the  heads 
from  the  wild-flowers  with  his  cane  as  he  slowly 
walked  along.  Again  he  laughed  to  himself  as  he 
pictured  Jake's  ungainly  form  "kneeling  up"  before 
his  pretty  Spanish  sweetheart ;  not  that  he  knew 
what  "  kneeling  up"  might  be,  or  how  it  was  done ; 
but  whatever  it  was,  it  could  not  very  well  fail  of 
being  something  peculiarly  interesting  in  the  present 
instance. 

The  next  morning,  on  his  way  down  to  his  office,  he 
met  the  actor  in  last  night's  love-scene  also  going  out ; 
and,  having  already  become  fast  friends,  he  greeted  him 
with,  "  By  the  way,  Jake,  have  you  no  front  gate 
handy  about  here  ?" 

Jake  looked  at  him  with  a  puzzled  expression  in  his 
honest  eyes  as  he  answered, — 

"  We  took  ours  down  when  the  street  was  graded. 
Why  ?  d'ye  think  the  place  'd  look  better  if  'twas  put 
back?" 

"Oh,  that  is  not  what  I  was  thinking  of,  Jake," 
Warren  answered.  "  My  interest  in  that  useful  article 
lies  deeper  than  any  question  of  mere  appearances.  I 
was  thinking,  as  I  saw  you  last  night  in  the  Plaza,  that 
a  front  gate  in  a  private  door  yard  would  be  far  more 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  39 

aesthetic  as  well  as  far  more  secure  from  the  intrusions 
of  heartless  listeners  than  a  eucalyptus  log  in  the  public 
park  of  a  city  ;  that's  all." 

Jake  blushed,  looked  uncomfortable,  and  seemed 
more  unheroic  than  ever  in  his  confusion.  At  last, 
with  an  air  of  desperate  determination,  as  though 
he  felt  obliged  to  say  something  but  did  not  exactly 
know  what  would  best  meet  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  he  asked,  "  Did  you  see  us,  Mr.  Warren  ?" 

"See  you?"  Warren  answered,  as  though  aston 
ished  at  the  question.  "Why,  my  dear  Jake,  you 
did  not  suppose,  did  you,  that  your  good  angel  was 
going  to  strike  every  passer-by  with  temporary  blind 
ness  in  order  that  you  and  your  fair  maid  might  do 
your  courting  in  the  Plaza  unobserved  by  those  whom 
business  or  other  necessity  might  call  that  way  ?" 

"  Why,  no,"  Jake  said,  kicking  the  ground  with  his 
right  foot  and  burying  his  hands  deep  in  his  trousers- 
pockets.  "I  didn't  count  on  nothin'  except  that  no 
body  7d  cut  across  there  last  night.  It's  the  last  place 
in  town  folks  ever  go  to." 

"  True,  it  is  not,  just  at  present,  an  especially  attrac 
tive  place,"  Warren  answered.  "Still,  it  is  public 
property;  and,  consequently,  it  is  not  just  the  place 
in  which  to  do  your  courting,  as  even  your  confiding 
nature  must  see,  Jake,  after  a  little  reflection.  Will 
not  papa  furnish  lights  and  a  parlor?  If  not,  I 
fall  back  on  my  original  suggestion ;  and,  as  your 
friend,  I  strongly  advise  a  front  gate.  Not  that  I  ever 
tried  one  myself;  but  it  is  so  cordially  endorsed  by 
popular  testimony  that  I  feel  very  confident  that  that 
which  receives  such  hearty  commendation  from  all 


40  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

quarters  must  possess  peculiar  merits.  Don't  you  think 
so,  Jake?" 

Jake  looked  up  as  Warren  addressed  this  last  ques 
tion  to  him,  then  looked  down  again,  still  kicking  the 
ground,  as  he  answered,  "  Seems  like  you're  pokin'  fun 
at  me,  Mr.  Warren." 

"  Perish  the  thought  I"  Warren  answered,  lighting 
a  cigar  as  he  spoke.  "I  like  you,  Jake,  and  I  am 
simply  acting  as  a  friend  and  giving  you  friendly 
advice.  Whatever  other  ill-considered  thing  you  may 
do,  don't,  for  heaven's  sake,  intrude  your  love-affairs  on 
the  public  gaze.  They  ought  to  be  kept  strictly  pri 
vate  ;  and  the  public  is  sure  to  be  unsympathetic,  and 
also  feels  painfully  in  the  way  when  brought  into  the 
presence  of  two  lovers,  as  I  was  last  night.  That  is 
what  I  mean,  Jake,  and  I  never  was  more  in  earnest  in 
my  life.  Have  a  cigar  ?" 

Jake  accepted  the  proffered  treat,  but  did  not  feel  it 
at  all  necessary  to  thank  the  giver,  and  said,  "  Goin' 
down  street,  Mr.  Warren  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  I'll  just  walk  down  with  you ;  and  I  don't  mind 
if  I  tell  you  about  it." 

When  he  began  this  conversation  Warren  had  not 
intended  to  become  the  repository  of  Jake's  love-secrets  ;• 
but,  as  he  had  told  him,  he  had  merely  intended  to  give 
him  a  hint  that,  if  he  were  in  the  habit  of  choosing 
the  Plaza  for  his  courting,  he  was  doing  it  a  little  too 
publicly.  As  he  had  said,  though,  he  liked  the  young 
fellow;  and  when  Jake  offered  him  his  confidence, 
Warren  accepted  it  with  the  frankness  which  was  a 
part  of  his  nature. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  41 

"Just  as  you  choose,  Jake/7  he  answered;  "I'll 
keep  faith  with  you,  though  I  cannot  promise  to  act  as 
a  counsellor.  I  fear  I  should  not  make  a  good  one 
were  I  to  try  to  act  the  part,  as  I  have  had  no  experi 
ence  in  such  matters,  and  I  don't  think  my  advice 
would  be  worth  much  were  I  to  give  it." 

"  I  ain't  just  askin'  for  advice,  Mr.  Warren,"  Jake 
said,  in  response  to  this  caution.  "  I  don't  see  no  way 
you  could  help  me  if  you  was  to  try.  Seein'  's  you 
know  so  much,  though,  I'd  like  you  to  know  the  rest ; 
so  I'll  tell  you  if  you  don't  mind  listenin'." 

"Not  the  least  in  the  world,  Jake,  if  you  don't 
mind  telling.  And  if  you  should  see  any  way  in 
which  I  can  help  you,  command  me,"  Warren  an 
swered,  knocking  the  ashes  from  his  cigar. 

"  I  will  that !"  Jake  answered,  gratefully.  "  You 
bet  I'll  remember.  Now,  you  see  the  business  's  this 
way.  She  is  Camilla  Carballo."  (Jake  did  not  con 
sider  it  necessary  to  further  define  the  young  lady  than 
by  the  feminine  pronoun.)  "  Her  father's  a  rich  old 
Spaniard  here  in  town,  and  they've  lived  here  forever, 
I  reckon.  They  don't  like  me  because  I'm  a  Yankee  ; 
my  mother  won't  let  me  speak  of  her  'cause  she  ain't." 

"  In  your  case,  the  course  of  true  love  is  dammed  by 
a  double  difficulty,  isn't  it  ?"  Warren  interjected. 

"  You  bet !"  Jake  answered. 

"  And  the  cruelty  of  your  respective  parents  is  the 
cause  of  your  wandering  about  and  taking  refuge  in 
public  parks  and  highways  and  in  dens  and  caves  of 
the  earth,  instead  of  doing  your  courting  in  the  less 
romantic  but  far  more  comfortable  parlor  of  papa's 
mansion  ?"  Warren  again  remarked. 

4* 


42  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

"  You  bet !"  Jake  again  assented.  "  If  I  was  to  go 
there,  old  Carballo  would  fire  me  out  of  the  house  and 
set  the  dog  on  me." 

"  H — m !"  commented  Warren.  "  The  parental  oppo 
sition  could  not  well  be  more  forcibly  expressed.'' 

"  He'll  never  give  in  about  me ;  and  the  old  lady  '11 
never  give  in  about  Camilla;  so  what  is  a  fellow  to 
do?"  Jake  disconsolately  asked,  his  mental  anguish 
apparent  in  every  tone  of  his  voice. 

There  is  no  form  which  human  unhappiness  can  as 
sume  which  receives  so  little  sympathy  as  that  which 
results  from  disappointed  love ;  and,  as  Warren  looked 
at  Jake's  miserable  countenance,  he  repressed  with  diffi 
culty  a  strong  desire  to  laugh,  while  he  saw  that  his 
companion  was  suffering  real  anguish,  absurd  as  the 
great  hulking  fellow  looked  while  mourning  over  his 
blighted  affections.  Jake  was  devotedly  in  love ;  that 
fact  was  perfectly  clear;  and,  as  Warren  looked  at 
him,  he  thought  how  unjust  is  the  popular  sentiment 
which  ridicules  such  sorrows,  as  though  there  were 
some  excellent  joke  in  a  true  and  pure  affection,  and 
its  disappointment  were,  therefore,  something  to  be 
laughed  at;  while,  were  the  sufferer  laid  up  with  a 
broken  leg,  the  compassion  of  these  same  laughers 
would  be  outspoken  and  sincere,  though  Jake's  suffer 
ings  would  be  no  more  real  in  the  latter  case  than 
they  now  were ;  while  it  was  very  possible,  if  not  even 
probable,  that  they  would  not  do  him,  in  the  long  run, 
so  much  actual  injury  as  wrould  his  present  disappoint 
ment.  Was  Warren  himself  feeling  the  tender  influ 
ence  of  this  sacred  passion  ?  and  was  this  making  him 
more  just  and  generous  towards  its  victims  ?  He  did 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  43 

not  know  himself ;  and  as  he  did  not  care  to  know,  he 
would  not  examine  his  feelings  in  order  to  ascertain 
what  they  were. 

"  Well,  Jake,  I  am  certainly  sorry  for  you,"  he  said, 
after  a  few  moments  of  silence  on  both  sides.  "  Will 
the  girl  stand  by  you,  do  you  think  ?" 

"  She'll  never  marry  anybody  else  !"  Jake  answered, 
confidently  and  proudly. 

"You,  I  take  it,  will  be  true  to  her?"  Warren  then 
asked. 

"  You  bet !  I'll  never  look  at  any  other  girl,"  he 
answered,  almost  angry  at  the  supposition  of  possible 
falseness  on  his  side. 

Positively,  he  did  look  almost  heroic  in  his  indig 
nant  repudiation  of  even  the  thought  of  treachery  to 
the  girl  he  loved. 

"  Well,  Jake,"  Warren  answered,  "  as  I  told  you,  I 
don't  consider  myself  competent  to  advise  in  affairs 
of  the  heart,  having  had  no  experience  in  such  things 
myself.  But,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  there  is  nothing  for 
you  to  do  but  simply  to  wait.  Your  mother  has  noth 
ing  against  the  young  lady  except  the  fact  that  she  is 
Spanish,  has  she  ?" 

"  That's  all.  Says  she  ain't  goin'  to  have  no  dirty 
Greaser  callin'  her  mother.  Camilla  ain't  no  Greaser ; 
her  family  is  pure  Castilian,"  Jake  answered,  indig 
nantly. 

"  Now,  coming  to  the  young  lady's  family,"  Warren 
went  on,  quietly  waiving  all  those  nice  distinctions  of 
nationality  which  were  brought  up  by  his  companion's 
protest.  "  Have  they  any  objection  to  you  ?  anything 
in  yourself  as  a  man,  I  mean,  of  course  ?" 


44  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

"  Well — I'm  a  heretic,  you  know,"  Jake  admitted. 

"  The  whole  trouble,  then,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  grows 
out  of  race  jealousy  and  religious  prejudice,"  said 
Warren. 

"  I  reckon  you've  hit  it,"  was  Jake's  answer. 

"Then,  in  my  judgment,  all  you  can  do  is  to  be 
patient  and  wait,"  said  Warren,  sagely  delivering  his 
opinion.  "  You  are  both  of  you  young,  and  it  will  not 
hurt  you  to  wait  two  or  three  years  yet.  I  know  it 
will  be  unpleasant,  but  it  will  not  hurt  you  in  the  least 
in  the  end.  Just  keep  up  a  good  heart,  and  be  true 
to  each  other,  while  you  must  not  forget  to  be  also  true 
to  yourselves ;  meanwhile,  let  things  take  their  course 
and  don't  force  matters.  I  think  the  religious  diffi 
culty  can  be  overcome ;  while  the  race  prejudice  seems 
to  me  too  foolish  to  be  any  real  obstacle  to  your  happi 
ness.  These  unreasonable  prejudices  always  grow  out 
of  ignorance ;  and  they  always  disappear  when  people 
come  to  know  each  other  better,  and  from  that  simple 
fact  get  to  liking  each  other  better.  So  just  be  patient 
and  wait ;  and  meanwhile  remember  that  I  am  your 
friend,  and  will  prove  it  in  any  way  that  I  can.  Don't 
be  afraid  to  call  upon  me  at  any  time.  Here  is  my 
office,  so  good-morning." 

"Good-by,  Mr.  Warren.  I'm  obliged  to  you," 
Jake  answered,  as  he  went  on  down  the  street  to  the 
beach  with  a  happier  face  and  a  lighter  heart  than  he 
had  carried  before  for  many  a  day. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  days  passed  rapidly  into  weeks,  and  March  had 
come,  carpeting  the  hills  with  brilliant  and  beautiful 
wild-flowers.  It  was  just  the  weather  for  an  excursion, 
and  so  it  would  remain  for  weeks  now :  too  early  for 
the  dust  which  would  come  with  the  long  rainless  and 
cloudless  summer ;  too  late  to  be  embarrassed  by  the 
mountain  torrents,  swollen  by  the  winter's  rains ;  while 
the  wild-flowers,  brought  out  by  these  showers,  now 
almost  ended  for  the  year,  were  fast  coming  to  their 
fullest  beauty. 

Warren  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  joys  of  a  picnic ; 
but  in  making  this  admission  you  must  remember  that 
picnics  are  capable  of  almost  as  widely  different  classi 
fications  as  are  the  races  of  mankind.  There  is,  cer 
tainly,  very  little  joy  to  be  found  in  the  average  Eastern 
picnic  as  it  is  generally  devised  and  managed.  No  one 
likes  to  be  intimately  associated  for  an  indefinite  num 
ber  of  hours  either  with  the  man  who  has  injured  him 
in  his  business  prospects,  or — and  this  is  even  worse — 
to  be  thrown  into  constant  and  close  contact  with  the 
woman  who  has  crushed  his  dearest  and  proudest  hopes, 
and  be  compelled  to  smile  sweetly  and  converse  amia 
bly  the  while  with  either  of  these,  whether  it  be  his 
worst  or  his  dearest  foe,  under  penalty  of  being  looked 
upon  by  every  one  in  the  party  as  an  uncomfortable 
person, — one  who  always  makes  it  a  point  to  be  glum 
and  sulky  where  all  beside  are  agreeable  and  happy. 

45 


46  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

Nor  is  the  outcome  much  more  pleasant,  even  when 
the  company  is  most  congenial,  for  the  hitherto  gay 
party  to  find  itself  overtaken  by  a  sudden  and  unex 
pected  shower,  with  the  result  that  its  members  are 
sent  home  dripping  :  the  ladies  cross  over  their  ruined 
bonnets  and  dresses;  the  gentlemen  swearing  softly 
to  themselves  at  being  deluded  into  taking  part  in  so 
imbecile  and  comfortless  an  expedition. 

But  in  California,  during  the  proper  season,  a  picnic 
is  an  altogether  different  affair.  To  begin  with,  you 
know  that  it  will  not  rain.  Then,  you  know  that  it 
will  be  neither  too  hot  for  comfort  nor  too  chilly  for 
health,  while  the  scenery  will  be  grandly  beautiful ; 
and  last  of  all,  if  you  make  any  effort  to  do  so,  every 
element  of  discomfort  can  be  eliminated  so  far  as  it  is 
either  possible  or  best  to  abolish  discomfort  from  our 
mundane  existence.  The  sum  of  the  matter  is,  there 
fore,  that  every  candid  person  who  has  made  the  ex 
periment  must  admit  that  it  is  impossible  to  spend  a 
season  in  California  without  becoming  as  ardent  an  ad 
mirer  of  picnics  and  as  enthusiastic  an  excursionist  as 
was  our  friend  Warren. 

He  was  late  that  morning  at  breakfast ;  and  as  he 
entered  the  dining-room  of  the  Anacapa,  he  saw  that  he 
had  the  field  entirely  to  himself.  Seating  himself  at 
the  table,  he  asked  the  waiter  how  long  it  had  been 
since  the  Mitchells  were  at  breakfast. 

"It  must  have  been  half  an  hour  ago  since  they 
were  down,"  that  dignitary  replied. 

"  I  wish,  after  giving  my  order,  you  would  go  to  the 
office  and  see  if  they  have  gone  out ;  and  if  they  have 
not,  tell  them  that  I  want  to  see  them  and  will  be  up 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  47 

shortly,"  Warren  said,  looking  over  the  bill  of  fare  as 
he  spoke. 

"  Very  well,  sir/'  the  waiter  answered,  then  disap 
peared  to  give  the  order ;  and,  coming  back  in  an  in 
stant,  he  made  his  way  to  the  office  to  fulfil  the  rest  of 
his  commission,  his  zeal  being  inspired  by  his  hopes  of 
a  fee :  hopes  which  he  felt  certain  were  not  doomed  to 
disappointment.  He  returned  almost  immediately  with 
the  message  that  Mr.  Mitchell  and  all  the  family  were 
in,  and  would  be  happy  to  see  him  at  his  convenience. 

Warren  thanked  him,  at  the  same  time  rejoicing  his 
heart  with  a  fee  which  surpassed  his  wildest  expecta 
tions,  and  he  departed  to  bring  on  Warren's  order,  the 
devoted  adherent  of  his  benefactor  forever. 

After  finishing  his  breakfast  Warren  went  at  once  to 
the  room  of  his  friends,  and  proceeded  to  unfold  his 
idea  to  them.  Much  to  his  disgust  they  received  it 
very  coldly  indeed,  while  Mrs.  Mitchell  was  especially 
firm  in  her  opposition. 

"  Perhaps  it  is  owing  to  my  ignorance  of  this 
country  and  its  customs,"  she  objected.  "I  admit 
that  I  have  not  taken  the  same  pains  to  inform  myself 
that  you  have,  Mr.  Warren ;  but  really,  early  March 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  the  proper  time  for  a 
picnic." 

"  Prejudice,  simple  prejudice !"  Warren  answered, 
laughing  at  her  arguments  against  his  great  idea.  "  I 
fear  that  you  are  a  good  deal  of  a  tenderfoot  even  yet, 
or  you  would  recognize  the  undeniable  fact  that  here 
the  names  of  the  months  are  used  only  as  a  commer 
cial  convenience,  and  as  a  concession  to  conventional 
usage.  As  for  meaning,  in  this  favored  land  they 


48  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

possess  none  at  all.  Have  you  consulted  your  ther 
mometer  faithfully  while  you  have  been  here  ?" 

Mrs.  Mitchell  was  by  no  means  convinced ;  she 
did  not,  however,  attempt  to  answer  his  argument, 
but  contented  herself  by  replying  to  his  question  with 
a  simple  "  No." 

"I  thought  not,"  Warren  triumphantly  answered. 
"  Your  ignorance  betrays  itself.  There  is  not  a  single 
day  in  which  the  mercury  does  not  register  seventy 
and  above;  and  except  for  the  remote  possibility  of 
a  shower  it  is  perfect  picnic  weather ;  and  this  is  a 
chance  you  are  never  free  from  in  your  beloved  East. 
As  far  as  not  being  warm  enough  is  concerned,  one 
could  go  off  on  such  an  excursion  here  in  the  middle 
of  January.  Try  again,  Mrs.  Mitchell." 

"  Oh,  you  need  not  exult  so  soon,"  that  lady  imme 
diately  answered ;  "  I  am  not  nearly  at  the  end  of  my  list 
of  objections  yet.  In  the  next  place,  I  think  it  will 
be  very  damp  under  the  trees,  and  we  shall  all  take 
cold  eating  our  lunch  there ;  and  I  also  think  it  will 
be  a  terrible  nuisance  to  provide  and  carry  provisions ; 
and  I  think " 

"  Hold,  hold,  enough  of  these  sad  plaints  !"  Warren 
exclaimed,  cutting  short  her  objections.  "I  foresaw 
all  these  difficulties  and  have  carefully  provided 
against  them.  Now  listen  to  me,  '  Friends  one  and 
all :'  7  do  not  wish  to  carry  provisions ;  and  for  the 
world  I  would  not  risk  the  health  of  that  delicate 
husband  of  yours,  Mrs.  Mitchell,  whose  sylph-like 
form  proclaims  him  to  be  already  a  creature  belonging 
more  to  the  next  world  than  to  this." 

"  Gently,  Matt,  gently ;   don't  grow  personal,  or  I 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  49 

shall  do  you  an  injury.  This  too  solid  flesh  is  not  a 
light  matter,  and  I  cannot  permit  it  to  be  made  the 
subject  of  merriment,"  Mitchell  said,  with  a  sadly  in 
jured  air. 

Without  attempting  further  sarcasm  Warren  again 
resumed  the  defence  of  his  project.  "Very  well," 
he  said.  "  To  go  into  the  merits  of  the  case  at  once, 
what  I  propose  is  that  we  all  go  to  the  Ojai.  You 
have  none  of  you  been  there  ;  I  have.  Take  my  word 
for  it,  if  you  go  home  without  seeing  the  valley  you 
will  lose  a  visit  to  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  de 
lightful  places  in  the  whole  world.  We  will  simply 
go  for  pleasure,  and  I  mean  by  that,  go  in  light  march 
ing  order.  We  will  take  no  provisions,  but  ride  up  to 
the  valley ;  take  supper  at  the  Oak  Glen  Cottages ; 
sleep  there,  and  ride  back  after  breakfast  in  the  morn 
ing.  How  does  that  strike  you  for  a  picnic  ct,  la  mode  f 
What  do  you  say,  Miss  Wade  ?"  turning  to  this  young 
lady,  who  had  up  to  this  time  taken  no  part  in  the 
discussion. 

Mollie  laid  aside  the  pretty  nothings  with  which  she 
had  been  killing  time,  under  the  delusion  she  shared 
in  common  with  other  ladies  that  doing  this  was  to 
"  work ;"  and  while  folding  them  preparatory  to  pmV 
ting  them  into  her  basket,  she  said,  in  answer  to  the 
question  Warren  had  addressed  to  her,  "  I  don't  think 
you  have  planned  a  picnic,  Mr.  Warren ;  but  I  do 
think  you  have  proposed  a  very  delightful  excursion, 
so  I  vote  that  we  go." 

"  Before  I  commit  myself  either  for  or  against,"  said 
Mitchell,  "I  want  the  slight  shade  of  ignorance  dis 
sipated  which  is  still  obscuring  my  usually  clear  per- 
c        d  5 


50  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

ceptions.  I  think  you  said  something  about  riding, 
Warren.  Do  you  mean  that  we  shall  be  conveyed  by 
horses  altogether  disconnected  from  vehicles  ?" 

"  That  was  my  meaning,"  Warren  answered. 

"Calmly,  soberly,  and  while  in  full  possession  of 
all  your  faculties  you  made  that  suggestion  ?"  Mitchell 
demanded. 

"  To  the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief  I  laid  the 
proposition  before  you  during  a  lucid  interval ;  how 
ever,  it  may  be  that  you  are  better  calculated  to  decide 
that  point  than  I,"  was  Warren's  reply. 

Mitchell  rose  from  his  chair,  and  standing  before 
Warren  so  that  his  ample  proportions  could  not  fail  to 
make  their  full  impression  upon  his  friend,  he  said, 
"Do  I  strike  you  as  a  man  intended  by  nature  to 
appear  before  the  world  in  the  character  of  an  eques 
trian  ?" 

"  You  make  altogether  too  much  of  your  size,  Mitch 
ell,"  Warren  answered,  impatiently.  "Other  stout 
men  ride,  and  why  should  not  you  ?  I  don't  see  any 
objection  on  that  score." 

"  I  do,"  Mitchell  answered,  emphatically.  "  Never 
will  I  place  myself  on  a  horse's  back,  to  become  an  object 
of  scoffing  to  men  and  of  pity  to  angels.  If  I  go,  I 
must  be  dispensed  from  that  part  of  the  programme." 

"I  see  another,  and  a  very  important  objection  which 
I  think  it  very  strange  all  the  rest  of  you  have  for 
gotten.  What  is  to  become  of  our  boy,  and  your  little 
namesake,  Mr.  Warren?"  Mrs.  Mitchell  inquired,  her 
manner  showing  very  clearly  that  she  regarded  this  as 
a  difficulty  which  must  be  fairly  overcome,  and  would 
admit  of  no  compromise. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  51 

"Can't  you  leave  him  here?"  Warren  indiscreetly 
suggested. 

Mrs.  Mitchell  gave  a  little  cry  of  indignant  dismay, 
while  both  her  sister  and  husband  burst  into  a  hearty 
laugh  at  her  consternation  over  Warren's  proposal  and 
his  manifest  chagrin  at  the  manner  in  which  it  had 
been  received. 

"  If  that  is  not,  for  all  the  world,  just  like  a  man  !" 
she  exclaimed.  "The  idea  of  leaving  a  baby  only 
two  years  old  in  a  hotel,  among  strangers,  while  his 
mother  goes  off  on  an  excursion !  Of  course  that  is 
altogether  out  of  the  question.  I  am  surprised  at  you, 
Mr.  Warren  !" 

Warren  struggled  out  of  the  depths  of  the  humilia 
tion  into  which  he  had  been  plunged  sufficiently  to 
attempt  a  defence,  and  explain  the  suggestion  which 
the  horrified  manner  of  the  child's  mother  too  plainly 
showed  she  looked  upon  as  stupid  if  not  altogether 
heartless.  So,  to  show  the  absence  of  any  cruel  inten 
tion  on  his  part,  he  said,  "  Why,  Mrs.  Mitchell,  the 
child  will  not  be  alone  among  strangers ;  his  nurse 
will  be  with  him,  and  we  shall  not  be  gone  two  days." 

"That  does  not  alter  the  case  in  the  least.  Nothing 
would  justify  me  in  going  off  on  such  an  excursion 
and  leaving  my  child  to  the  care  of  a  servant  among 
strangers,"  Mrs.  Mitchell  answered,  with  unbending 
severity. 

"  Don't  say  another  word,  Mr.  Warren,"  Mollie  in 
terposed,  laughing  heartily  at  her  sister's  indignation 
and  Warren's  air  of  mingled  surprise  and  humility; 
for  even  now  he  could  see  nothing  so  very  outrageous 
in  his  solution  of  the  difficulty.  "  If  you  try  to  make 


52  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

any  further  explanations  or  suggestions  I  can  see  that 
you  will  ruin  yourself  irretrievably  with  Effie.  I  see 
no  way  out  of  this  difficulty,  which  is  really  no  diffi 
culty,  but  to  let  John  Addison  and  Effie  go  in  a 
carriage  with  the  boy,  while  the  rest  of  us  ride;  or 
else,  just  let  the  whole  matter  drop  and  stay  at  home. 
Now,  which  had  we  better  do  ?" 

Warren  certainly  was  not  going  to  abandon  the 
enterprise  if  this  outcome  could  possibly  be  avoided. 
The  prospect  of  a  long  ride  to  the  Ojai  and  back  in 
Mollie's  company  was  altogether  too  delightful  to  be 
lightly  abandoned.  As  his  eyes  met  hers,  soft,  liquid, 
and  melting,  his  heart  gave  a  throb  of  exquisite  hap 
piness  :  it  was  a  delight  to  him  merely  to  be  in  her 
presence;  to  know  that  she  was  near  him;  to  look 
upon  her  and  adore  her,  even  though  she  knew  noth 
ing  of  his  adoration. 

"  Let  it  be  as  you  wish,"  he  answered.  "  I  do  not 
see  why  the  trip  cannot  be  arranged  as  Miss  Wade  has 
proposed.  You  can  take  the  boy  and  go  in  a  carriage ; 
andj  if  you  and  they  wish,  the  Rector  and  his  wife  can 
go  in  the  same  carriage,  while  the  rest  of  us  can  ride." 

"  Now  you  once  more  hold  your  former  high  place 
in  my  esteem,  and  I  think  Effie  is  also  less  inclined  to 
regard  you  as  a  monster,"  Mitchell  replied. 

Mrs.  Mitchell  relented  at  once,  and  said  in  answer  to 
her  husband's  reference  to  her, — 

"Yes;  although  the  offence  was  a  terrible  one,  I 
attribute  it  to  ignorance  and  so  forgive  it.  I  suppose, 
by  your  suggesting  that  the  Rector  and  his  wife  go  with 
us,  you  have  the  party  in  mind  ?" 

"Yes,"  Warren  answered.      "We  do  not  want  a 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  53 

large  party.  I  thought  that  beside  ourselves  we  would 
simply  ask  my  partner  and  Miss  Wade's  hotel  friend, 
Miss  Lake ;  these,  with  the  Hector  and  his  wife,  will 
make  the  party  large  enough,  will  it  not  ?" 

The  Rector  and  his  wife  were  a  young  couple  from 
Boston,  newly  married,  who  had  recently  come  to  the 
parish,  and  had  been  in  the  city  but  a  few  weeks  over 
a  year. 

Mitchell  thought  the  party  sufficiently  large,  and  ex 
pressed  himself  delighted  with  the  clerical  addition  to 
their  number. 

"  The  Rector  and  his  wife  by  all  means !"  he  ex 
claimed.  "  While  the  presence  of  two  Bostonians  will 
lend  culture  to  the  company,  perhaps  their  goodness 
will  act  as  a  counterpoise  to  the  depravity  the  presence 
of  two  California  real-estate  dealers  will  certainly  intro 
duce.  Now  we  must  decide  when  we  are  to  go." 

"How  will  the  day  after  to-morrow  suit  you?" 
Warren  asked,  wholly  ignoring  his  friend's  comments. 

"  All  times  are  alike  to  us  idle  tourists,  you  know," 
Mitchell  answered.  "You  and  your  partner  are  the 
only  men  of  business  to  be  present ;  the  Rector  is  the 
only  man  of  affairs.  If  he,  Miss  Lake,  and  you  two 
men  of  business  find  that  time  agreeable  to  you,  it  will 
be  perfectly  convenient  to  us ;  will  it  not,  ladies  ?"  he 
asked,  turning  to  his  wife  and  her  sister  for  the  expres 
sion  of  their  opinion. 

They  assented ;  and  thereupon  Warren  remarked, 
"  As  for  the  Rector,  I  have  already  seen  him  and  asked 
if  he  could  go,  and  on  that  day,  and  he  has  agreed.  I 
will  speak  to  Miss  Lake  as  I  go  out ;  if  she  happens  to 
be  engaged  for  that  day,  we  can  change  the  time  to  meet 


54  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

her  convenience,  though  I  apprehend  no  danger  of 
postponement  on  that  score,  for  she  is  as  idle  a  tourist 
as  yourselves.  As  for  Glenn  and  myself,  our  time  is 
not  very  valuable  just  at  present." 

This  remark  caused  Mitchell  to  look  profoundly 
interested  at  once.  "Is  business  dull?"  he  asked. 

"  A  little  slack  just  at  present ;  but  then  one  never  has 
time  to  work  very  hard  in  this  country ;  pleasure  before 
business,  you  know,"  Warren  answered,  trying  to  evade 
a  direct  answer. 

But  Mitchell  was  too  deeply  interested  in  the  issue 
of  his  friend's  business  enterprise  to  be  put  off  by  any 
thing  less  than  a  direct  and  positive  refusal  on  Warren's 
part  to  answer  any  questions ;  and  this  he  felt  certain 
that  he,  knowing  and  respecting  his  motives  in  inquiring 
into  the  success  of  this  new  business  venture,  would  not 
make. 

"  You  are  not  doing  as  well  as  you  expected,  I  take 
it  ?"  he  next  asked,  putting  a  direct  question  this  time. 

Warren  hesitated  a  moment  as  though  doubtful 
whether  to  answer  or  not,  then  as  if  deciding  to  give 
his  confidence  to  his  friend,  replied,  "  I  did  not  come 
this  morning  to  talk  business ;  I  shall,  however,  have 
something  to  talk  over  with  you  in  a  few  days,  after 
we  get  things  a  little  more  into  shape.  Just  now  we  are 
a  little  dull,  but  very  soon  now  we  shall  have  some 
thing  on  foot  that  will  make  things  lively ;  and  even 
so  hardened  a  sceptic  as  you  will  think  it  worth  taking 
hold  of,  I  feel  very  sure." 

' '  Ah, — T  see,"  Mitchell  replied,  meditatively.  "  Speak 
ing  in  the  language  of  the  country,  you  are  getting  up 
a  boom." 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  55 

"  That's  it.  You've  put  the  whole  matter  into  a  nut 
shell/'  Warren  answered,  while  the  ladies  sat  listening 
with  interest,  for  the  subject  now  being  discussed  was 
one  entirely  new  to  them,  while  it  was  one  which  was 
continually  mentioned  in  all  the  papers,  and  which 
formed  so  absorbing  a  topic  of  conversation  that  no  one 
could  be  long  in  Southern  California  without  becoming 
profoundly  interested  in  it. 

Mitchell  looked  very  serious.  "  You  are  in  it  ?"  he 
asked. 

"Oh,  four  of  us  have  formed  a  company,"  Warren 
replied. 

Mitchell  shook  his  head,  his  manner  plainly  show 
ing  that  he  doubted  the  success  of  the  enterprise,  while 
he  further  asked,  "  How  much  do  you  expect  to  make?" 

Warren  had  risen  to  take  his  leave,  having  now  com 
pleted  the  arrangements  for  his  excursion,  which  had 
been  the  object  of  his  call ;  but  seeing  the  doubts  enter 
tained  by  Mitchell  of  the  successful  issue  of  the  scheme 
upon  which  he  had  embarked,  he  replaced  his  hat  upon 
the  table  and  again  sat  down,  in  order  to  remove  all 
sceptical '  notions  from  the  mind  of  his  friend  as  to  the 
brilliant  issue  awaiting  his  project,  and  to  defend  his 
own  reputation  for  business  sagacity. 

"  I  say  once  more,  that  I  did  not  come  here  this 
morning  to  talk  business,"  he  replied  ;  "  but  I  will  ex 
plain  what  I  have  already  said  by  telling  you  that  we 
have  taken  up  a  tract  of  land  near  this  city  which  we 
are  now  laying  out  into  a  town  site ;  we  are  building  a 
reservoir;  we  shall  also  make  further  improvements, 
and  then  we  shall  put  it  on  the  market." 

Mitchell  looked  at  him  with  a  countenance  expres- 


56  THE  BURSTING    OF  A  BOOM. 

sive  of  the  deepest  compassion.  "Warren,"  he  said, 
very  gravely,  "  have  you  been  drawn  into  this  enter 
prise  very  deeply  ?" 

Warren  was  both  surprised  and  piqued  by  his  friend's 
serious  manner.  Although  he  knew  that  Mitchell  was 
altogether  out  of  sympathy  with  the  prevailing  land- 
craze,  he  also  knew  that  he  was  a  firm  believer  in 
the  future  of  the  country,  and  he  had  hoped  that,  on 
general  principles,  he  would  at  least  endorse  and  sup 
port  an  enterprise  which  was  undertaken  fully  as  much 
to  develop  the  country  as  to  enrich  its  projectors; 
Vexed  at  the  manner  in  which  Mitchell  persisted  in 
looking  at  the  project,  he  made  no  answer,  and  Mitchell 
went  on  :  "I  am  not  asking  this  out  of  curiosity,  but 
as  an  old  friend.  I  hope  you  are  not  very  deeply  in 
terested  in  this  matter." 

"You  need  not  be  at  all  alarmed;  Jam  not.  I  have 
such  perfect  confidence  in  the  result  that  I  have  in 
vested  the  greater  part  of  what  I  am  worth,"  Warren 
answered. 

Mitchell  sank  back  with  a  sigh  of  despair.  "  I  wish 
you  had  talked  with  me  before  you  became  interested 
in  this  wild  scheme.  But  it  is  too  late  to  say  anything 
about  that  now,"  he  said. 

Warren  took  umbrage  at  once.  As  a  business  man, 
'as  a  dealer  in  real  estate  who  was  supposed  to  know 
the  demands  of  the  market  and  whose  business  it  was 
to  anticipate  these  demands  in  order  that  he  might 
supply  them,  he  was  not  disposed  to  tolerate  any  croak- 
ings  from  a  cold-blooded  and  unsympathetic  critic  like 
his  friend ;  least  of  all  was  he  disposed  to  permit  his 
sagacity  to  be  attacked  in  the  presence  of  the  ladies, 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  57 

so  he  answered  almost  savagely,  "  See  here,  Mitchell,  I 
ought  to  have  known  better  than  to  mention  any  such 
scheme  for  the  development  of  the  country  to  any 
beastly  Silurian  like  yourself.  Of  course  you  would 
cry  it  down ;  it's  like  you  and  your  kind  to  oppose 
any  step  that  tends  towards  progress  that  we  may  try 
to  make.  You  come  out  here;  you  get  all  the  ad 
vantages  of  this  wonderful  climate;  you  bring  your 
invalids  here  and  get  them  cured ;  you  eat  our  fruits, 
and  enjoy  our  grand  scenery,  and  lead  a  simply 
ideal  life,  revelling  in  the  very  poetry  of  existence  so 
long  as  you  choose  to  remain;  but  all  this  time  you 
keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  you  haven't  come  to  stay. 
You  remember  very  vividly  that  all  your  interests  are 
back  East ;  and  you  are  afraid  that  the  truth  about 
this  country  will  get  out  and  hurt  your  interests  as  an 
Eastern  man ;  so  you  don't  see,  and  won't  admit  facts 
as  they  are ;  not  you !  oh,  no  !  You  cry  the  country 
down  because  you  are  afraid  the  facts  will  become 
known;  and  you  say  that  our  development,  unprece 
dented  in  the  history  of  the  world,  is  all  boom,  and 
that  it  is  beginning  to  collapse  already.  Oh,  I  know 
the  whole  story  you  tell ;  but  I  think  it  mighty  un 
friendly  of  you  to  wet  blanket  me  in  this  manner.77 

This  outburst  of  virtuous  indignation  was  very  fine, 
and  part  of  it  was  almost  eloquent.  It  would,  how 
ever,  have  made  a  deeper  impression  upon  Mitchell 
had  Warren  been  longer  than  three  months  in  Califor 
nia,  and  had  he  not  already  repeatedly  read  something 
of  the  kind  in  all  the  papers  issued  in  Southern  Cali 
fornia,  so  that  he  knew  the  sad  plaint  by  heart  himself. 
As  it  was,  Warren's  impassioned  appeal  simply  dis- 


58  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

gusted  him ;  and  as  he  paused  in  his  torrent  of  indig 
nant  remonstrance,  Mitchell  said, "  While  you  are  getting 
your  breath,  kindly  listen  to  what  I  have  to  say.  Have 
I  ever  misrepresented  this  country  in  any  way,  or  tried 
to  detract  from  any  of  its  charms  in  the  least  ? — No, 
don't  quibble,"  he  said,  as  Warren  tried  to  talk  around 
this  question.  "Give  me  an  honest  answer  to  an 
honest  question.  Have  I  ever,  in  any  way,  said  less 
than  the  truth  about  this  country  or  its  advantages  ?77 

"  No/7  Warren  reluctantly  admitted,  "  I  cannot  say 
that  you  yourself  have  done  so  ;  I  was  speaking  of  your 
kind." 

"Never  mind  my  kind/7  Mitchell  rejoined.  "I 
want  to  be  egotistical  and  talk  about  myself.  I  have 
broken  the  point  off  your  argument ;  now  we  will  pro 
ceed  to  examine  the  stump.  I  believe  you  say  that  I 
accuse  you  of  '  booming  /  as  I  understand  that  classic 
phrase,  it  means  creating  a  market  for  property  in  ex 
cess  of  the  needs  of  the  country,  does  it  not  ?" 

"  I  believe  so/7  Warren  replied,  feeling  very  cross  at 
being  made  to  appear  foolish  before  the  lady  of  his 
fond  devotion ;  and  as  he  realized  that  his  want  of  con 
trol  over  his  own  temper  had  drawn  Mitchell  into  this 
discussion,  his  anger  began  to  burn  hotly  against  his 
friend.  Of  course  this  was  altogether  wrong ;  but,  after 
all,  it  was  human  nature. 

"Well/7  Mitchell  went  on  in  that  calmly  logical 
way  which  is  so  convincing  but  so  exasperating, 
"you  are,  as  I  understand  your  explanation  of  your 
idea,  creating  a  suburban  town  which  is  to  possess 
all,  perhaps  more  than  all,  the  attractions  to  be  found 
in  any  one  of  the  finest  suburbs  of  New  York  City. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  59 

Now,  how  many  inhabitants  has  Ventura  ?  Three  or 
four  thousand,  has  it  not  ?" 

"  About  that,  I  believe/'  Warren  replied ;  his  three 
months'  residence  in  the  country  having  made  him  so 
good  a  Californian  that  he  failed  to  say  about  what, 
leaving  you  to  take  the  larger  figures  if  you  chose  to 
do  so. 

"Very  well,"  Mitchell  went  on  in  the  same  calm, 
convincing  tones,  and  now  prepared  to  drive  his  argu 
ment  so  effectually  home  that  it  would  carry  convic 
tion  even  to  so  prejudiced  and  interested  a  listener  as 
Warren.  "  New  York  has  considerably  more  than  a 
million  inhabitants,  all  crowded  together  on  a  little 
island,  and  this  great  population  must,  of  course,  over 
flow  in  one  direction  or  another ;  that  is  why  all  its  de 
sirable  suburbs  succeed.  In  a  town  of  three  or  four 
thousand  people,  and  which  has  unlimited  capacity  for 
extending  its  suburbs  in  any  direction  except,  of  course, 
into  the  ocean,  I  see  no  reason  for  the  existence  of  a 
suburban  town  to  catch  the  overflow  of  population ;  at 
least  not  until  it  equals  New  York  in  population.  And 
I  don't  expect  that  even  you  and  your  company  expect 
that  to  come  about  in  less  than  ten  years,  do  you  ?  There 
you  have  the  reasons  why  I  say  your  project  cannot  suc 
ceed.  And  there,  again,  you  have  the  reasons  why  I 
say  that  you  are  trying  to  create  a  demand  in  the 
market  which  does  not  exist  in  order  to  supply  it  with 
an  article  no  one  needs ;  or,  once  more  speaking  in  the 
vernacular,  you  are  ( booming.'77 

Warren  hastily  sprang  to  his  feet  and  caught  up  his 
hat.  He  was  angry  with  himself  for  the  outburst 
which  had  led  to  this  discussion  ;  angry  with  Mitchell 


60  THE  BURSTING   OF  A    BOOM. 

for  taking  advantage  of  it  to  show  the  rashness  of  in 
vesting  so  heavily  in  an  enterprise  which  was  at  least  of 
doubtful  success ;  while  his  anger  was  increased  by  the 
fact  that  he  could  not  answer  one  of  these  arguments. 

"There  is  no  use  of  our  pursuing  this  discussion, 
Mitchell/7  he  answered  hotly,  endeavoring  to  control 
his  temper,  but  with  only  partial  success.  "I  will 
only  say  this  in  reply  to  you :  '  he  laughs  best  who 
laughs  last/  and  in  less  than  a  twelvemonth  I  shall 
take  out  at  least  ten  times  the  money  I  put  into  this 
enterprise,  and  it  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  I  shall 
make  fifteen  times  my  original  investment.  By  that 
time  you  will  be  despising  yourself  because  you  were 
too  big  a  coward  to  make  a  dollar,  even  when  the 
opportunity  jumps  at  you  and  begs  to  be  taken  up. 
Good-morning.  Good-morning,  ladies."  And,  bowing 
to  Mrs.  Mitchell  and  her  sister,  he  left  the  room. 

Mitchell  looked  after  him  in  silence  as  he  closed  the 
door ;  then,  as  he  resumed  the  reading  of  the  morning 
paper  which  he  had  laid  aside  as  Warren  entered  the 
room,  he  said,  wiping  his  glasses  as  he  spoke,  "  Girls, 
you  have  often  heard  of  the  California  land-craze; 
you  see  it  in  its  most  malignant  form  in  that  young 
man  who  has  just  left  the  room.  Shun  the  disease, — 
shun  it  with  the  utmost  care.  It  spares  neither  sex 
nor  condition,  while  it  hardly  spares  any  age ;  indeed, 
none  are  free  from  the  infection  save  infants  and 
tender  youth.  Like  intemperance  and  the  opium- 
habit,  it  carries  wretchedness,  poverty,  and  disaster  into 
many  a  home,  and,  saddest  of  all,  I  fear  that  its  dire 
work  is  only  just  begun.  As  for  that  young  man,  our 
friend  Warren,  he  is  already  past  cure." 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  Q\ 

Mrs.  Mitchell  raised  her  eyes  from  the  sewing  on 
which  she  was  employed,  her  alarm  visible  in  every 
feature.  "Oh,  John  Addison,"  she  cried,  "do  be 
serious  just  one  moment,  and  tell  me, — you  don't  really 
think  he  will  be  ruined?" 

"Answering  both  questions  at  once,  I  do/7  Mitchell 
replied.  "  As  for  being  serious,  I  was  never  more  in 
earnest  in  my  life  than  I  am  at  this  present  moment.  I 
don't  like  his  partner ;  he  is  a  pleasant  and  plausible 
man, — altogether  too  plausible,  and  he  looks  like  a  sharp. 
Then,  I  have  seen  something  of  the  crowd  his  business 
compels  him  to  go  in  with ;  I  don't  like  them  at  all. 
My  opinion  is  that  they  have  got  hold  of  him  for  a 
green  Easterner,  a  t  tenderfoot'  as  the  phrase  is,  and 
they  won't  let  him  go  until  they  have  cleaned  him  out." 

"  Oh,"  Mrs.  Mitchell  exclaimed,  with  a  sigh,  "  what 
a  dreadful  pity  !  Can't  you  do  something  to  help  him  ?" 

"What  can  he  do,  Erne?"  Mollie,  who  until  now 
had  sat  silently  but  intently  listening  to  all  that  had 
been  said,  calmly  asked.  "  You  heard  John  Addison 
trying  to  advise  Mr.  Warren,  and  you  saw  how  angry 
he  became  at  any  interference,  and  how  he  went  off  in 
a  huff.  If  he  will  not  take  a  friend's  advice  how  can 
any  friend  help  him  ?" 

"That's  the  point  exactly,  Mollie,"  Mitchell  an 
swered,  resuming  his  paper.  "Nothing  can  be  done. 
It's  the  old  Scotch  proverb  fulfilled  before  our  eyes : 
'  If  wilfu'  will  to  water,  wilfu'  maun  drench.' " 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  fifth  of  March  was  a  perfect  day ;  the  sun  rose 
clear  and  warm,  not  a  particle  of  mist  was  in  the 
atmosphere,  while  the  day  itself  was  as  mild  as  a  day 
in  an  Eastern  June. 

By  ten  o'clock  a  merry  party  was  gathered  under  the 
broad  porch  of  the  Anacapa  waiting  for  the  horses  to 
be  brought  round;  while  a  two-horse  carriage  stood 
ready  for  Mitchell  to  display  his  skill  as  a  driver. 

"  Good-by,  Erne ;  I  hope  no  calamity  will  befall  you," 
Mollie  called  out  to  her  sister,  as  Mitchell  assisted  her 
into  the  carriage.  She  herself  was  still  standing  in  the 
door-way  of  the  hotel  buttoning  the  wrist  of  her  long 
riding-glove. 

"  I  hope  that  my  life  will  be  spared  to  me ;  but  I 
confess  that  I  have  my  fears.  The  memory  of  my  last 
ride  with  John  Addison,  and  how  he  upset  me  and 
hurt  my  shoulder,  still  lingers  in  my  mind,  calling 
up  awful  forebodings  as  to  my  fate  and  the  disasters 
about  to  befall  our  heir  before  we  are  once  more  safely 
back  in  our  rooms,"  Mrs.  Mitchell  answered,  as  she 
seated  herself  in  the  carriage  and  drew  the  duster 
about  her. 

"  If  that  is  his  style  of  driving  I  think  we  had  better 
take  the  lower  road ;  if  we  go  by  that,  we  shall  have  to 
cross  the  creek  about  fourteen  times,  and  possibly  he 
might  upset  you  in  that.  The  water  will  break  the 
force  of  your  fall  less  violently  and  far  more  agreeably 
62 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  63 

than  the  hard  ground,"  said  Warren,  who  was  standing 
by  Mollie's  horse  waiting  to  assist  her  to  mount. 

Mrs.  Mitchell  received  this  pleasant  suggestion  with 
a  cry  of  dismay.  "I'll  never  consent  to  go  by  that 
awful  road,  and  if  you  are  thinking  of  it,  I  insist  upon 
getting  out  of  this  carriage  and  going  back  to  my  room 
this  very  moment.  If  we  should  try  to  go  by  that 
road  we  would  never  get  there  alive;  John  Addison 
would  have  us  and  himself  drowned  before  we  had 
crossed  the  creek  half  of  those  fourteen  times,"  she  pro 
tested,  pathetically.  Then,  as  another  fear  suggested 
itself  to  her  mind,  she  asked,  trembling  with  apprehen 
sion  while  she  spoke,  "  Isn't  the  water  awfully  high  ?" 

"  It  is  fairly  well  up,"  Warren  answered,  maliciously. 
He  was  still  sore  over  his  last  interview  with  Mitchell ; 
and  he  was  well  enough  acquainted  with  feminine 
nature,  at  least  in  so  far  as  it  was  displayed  in  his 
friend's  wife,  to  know  that  if  he  could  thoroughly 
awaken  her  fears  before  the  trip  was  fairly  begun,  she 
would  hold  her  apprehensions  prominently  before  her 
husband  not  only  during  the  ride  to  the  valley,  but  she 
would  also  retain  enough  of  them  to  render  him  thor 
oughly  miserable  during  the  return  journey  as  well. 
This  fact  brought  him  a  feeling  of  intense  satisfaction ; 
andj  seeing  how  well  he  had  succeeded  in  arousing  her 
apprehensions  of  the  dangers  lying  before  her,  he  tried 
to  still  further  add  to  them,  saying,  "  Indeed,  the  last 
time  I  was  up  that  way  I  found  my  road  cut  by  a  very 
respectable  stream ;  but  that  is  all  the  better  for  you, 
because  in  case  you  should  really  be  upset,  the  deeper 
the  water  and  the  swifter  the  current  the  less  will  be 
your  danger  of  striking  the  rocks  in  your  fall." 


(J4  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

Mrs.  Mitchell  positively  refused  to  view  the  matter 
in  any  such  comforting  light,  and  would  neither  be 
calmed  nor  comforted  until  her  husband,  thinking  that 
the  matter  had  already  gone  too  far  for  his  comfort, 
interposed.  "  Don't  be  a  goose,  Erne,"  he  said.  "  We 
never  entertained  the  notion  of  going  by  the  lower  road 
in  the  first  place ;  and  whichever  road  we  do  take,  I 
will  engage  to  take  you  up  and  bring  you  back  safely. 
The  dangers  you  will  be  called  upon  to  encounter  are 
by  no  means  so  great  as  our  friend  represents.  I  see 
through  his  game,  and  you  ought  to.  He  wants  to 
frighten  you,  and  make  you  a  lively  companion  for  me." 

Mrs.  Mitchell  glanced  reproachfully  at  Warren,  who 
laughed,  raised  his  hat,  and  said,  "  All  ready  ?  Drive 
on,  and  we  will  overtake  you  by  the  time  you  have 
reached  the  avenue." 

By  this  time  Mollie  had  joined  him.  In  her  dark 
riding-habit  and  tall  hat  she  looked  simply  bewitching, 
as  Warren  mentally  told  himself  more  than  once.  Her 
soft  dark  eyes  were  shining  with  anticipated  pleasure, 
while  her  red  lips,  just  parted,  showed  the  small,  white, 
even  teeth.  Warren  lifted  her  into  her  saddle,  and 
taking  his  place  beside  her,  Glenn  and  Miss  Lake  now 
declaring  themselves  ready,  the  party  galloped  after  the 
carriage. 

For  the  first  few  miles  little  was  said  between  the 
riders.  Although  riding  certainly  is  an  exhilarating 
and  most  delightful  exercise,  it  is  by  no  means  condu 
cive  to  sociability ;  while  a  young  man  in  love  can  find 
no  more  exasperating  position  in  which  to  make  the 
effort  to  win  the  affections  of  the  lady  of  his  choice  than 
that  which  he  is  forced  to  occupy  during  a  horseback- 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  65 

ride.  Warren  was  now  a  sufficiently  accomplished 
equestrian  to  understand  all  this ;  and  for  some  miles 
conversation  was  not  attempted  beyond  now  and  then 
a  few  words  in  reference  to  the  scenery  or  the  route 
they  should  follow.  Delightful  as  is  the  ride  to  the 
Ojai  under  any  circumstances,  it  gained  charms  far 
beyond  any  that  Warren  had  dreamed  it  could  possess 
from  the  perfect  happiness  he  felt  in  the  society  of  his 
companion.  As  for  Mollie,  it  would  have  been  difficult 
for  her  to  define  the  sentiments  which  she  entertained 
towards  her  companion.  While  she  enjoyed  his  society, 
yet  he  awakened  in  her  a  strong  antagonism,  which, 
perhaps,  gave  to  the  man  and  his  opinions  an  interest 
she  would  not  otherwise  have  felt  either  in  reference  to 
Warren  himself,  his  theories,  or  his  conduct.  After 
crossing  the  creek  and  riding  on  at  a  rapid  pace  for  two 
or  three  miles,  they  drew  up  under  the  shade  of  a  grove 
of  live-oaks  to  rest  their  horses  and  enjoy  the  scenery ; 
while  they  also  waited  for  their  companions,  whom  they 
had  left  at  some  distance  behind  them. 

"  How  I  wish  I  had  my  sketch-book  with  me  I"  said 
Mollie.  "I  would  like  to  preserve  this  beautiful  place 
in  some  more  permanent  form  than  my  memory;  I 
would  like  it  to  refer  to  myself  after  I  return  home, 
while  it  is  also  well  worth  showing  to  one's  friends." 

"  While  I  do  not  in  the  least  doubt  your  skill  with 
the  pencil,  Miss  Wade,  do  you  think  you  could  do 
justice  to  the  scene?"  Warren  asked. 

"Thank  you  for  your  implied  confidence  in  my 
skill,  and  permit  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  your 
dexterity  in  the  use  of  language.  No  one  else  among 
all  my  acquaintances  could  so  delicately  and  ingeniously 

e  G* 


QQ  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

have  retracted  in  the  last  half  of  a  sentence  what  he  had 
been  saying  in  the  first  half  as  have  you  only  now/7 
Mollie  answered,  pretending  to  feel  bitterly  aggrieved. 

Warren  raised  his  hat,  saying,  "  Permit  me  to  most 
humbly  beg  your  pardon  for  my  stupidity.  I  am 
crushed  into  the  earth  by  the  weight  of  your  displeas 
ure  ;  I  certainly  did  not  mean  to  retract  anything  that 
I  had  said." 

"Perhaps  you  will  explain  your  meaning,  and  in 
that  way  permit  me  to  judge  your  intentions,"  she  re 
plied,  without  changing  from  her  first  injured  manner 
in  the  least. 

"What  would  I  not  do  to  be  restored  to  your  favor?" 
Warren  answered,  his  eyes  expressing  the  earnestness 
that  he  dared  not  permit  his  words  to  convey. 

In  an  instant  Mollie  was  on  her  guard.  "  Mr.  War 
ren  cannot  be  charged  with  over-modesty.  Why  does 
he  think  that  he  can  be  restored  to  that  which,  possibly, 
he  never  possessed?  But  I  am  waiting  for  the  ex 
planation,"  she  replied. 

The  words  were  spoken  in  the  same  light  and  playful 
manner  in  which  their  sparring  was  habitually  con 
ducted  ;  but  there  was  a  look  in  her  dark  eyes  as  they 
met  his  own  which  warned  Warren  that  she,  like  him 
self,  had  thrown  into  her  words  a  meaning  she  wished 
him  to  understand;  while  he  also  perceived  that  if 
their  comradeship  were  to  continue  that  he  must  act, 
for  the  future,  upon  this  warning  she  had  given  him 
in  all  his  conduct  towards  her. 

Warren  flushed  and  bit  his  lip.  He  was  hurt  more 
deeply  than  he  would  acknowledge  even  to  himself. 
Still,  though  it  was  clear  from  her  words  that  he  had 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  67 

not  as  yet  gained  her  affections,  nor  even  her  liking 
beyond  an  indifferent  esteem,  which  permitted  her  to 
accept  him  as  an  agreeable  escort  now  and  then,  he 
would  not  as  yet  despair  of  what  might  be.  Concealing 
the  pain  her  words  had  given  him  as  best  he  might, 
he  answered  in  a  tone  as  careless  as  her  own, — 

"  I  merely  intended  to  intimate  to  Miss  Wade  that 
she  could  hardly  hope  to  do  justice  to  the  rich  coloring 
of  the  scenery  before  us  in  the  colorless  reproduction 
of  a  pencil  sketch." 

Mollie  glanced  keenly  at  him  for  an  instant ;  then, 
seeing  that  he  fully  understood  her  meaning,  wishing 
to  place  her  companion  once  more  at  his  ease  in  her 
society,  she  dropped  her  air  of  pretended  indignation, 
and,  as  though  there  had  been  nothing  more  in  their 
words  than  appeared  on  the  surface,  she  looked  long 
and  earnestly  at  the  picture  spread  before  her. 

The  road  wound  around  the  mountains;  and  just 
beyond  where  they  had  reined  in  their  horses,  though 
concealed  from  their  sight  by  a  turn,  it  dipped  slightly 
in  its  descent  to  the  valley  below,  accomplished  by  an 
easy  and  pleasant  grade.  On  one  side  of  them  the 
mountains  rose  precipitous  and  almost  awful  in  their 
majesty ;  their  wrinkled  faces  now  smiling  with  the 
verdure  brought  out  by  the  winter's  rains.  A  meadow 
lay  gently  sloping  up  to  their  sheer  ascent,  dotted  with 
live-oaks,  from  whose  branches  hung  long  festoons  of 
lace-like  Spanish  moss ;  while  it  was  carpeted  with 
bright  flowers  of  all  colors,  ranging  from  a  dainty  and 
delicate  blue  to  the  gorgeous  yellow  of  the  California 
poppy. 

On  their  left  was  a  sheer  descent  of  hundreds  of  feet 


68  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

down  to  the  valley  below.  Through  this  valley  there 
ran  a  narrow  and  shallow  river  looking  like  a  silver 
thread  in  the  distance,  its  banks  lined  with  a  green 
fringe  of  willows.  At  their  feet,  and  on  into  the  re 
moter  distance,  lay  the  fertile  ranches  of  prosperous 
farmers,  their  green  fields  looking  like  huge  checker 
boards  as  they  extended  far  up  the  hills,  whose  precipi 
tous  walls  framed  the  picture  beyond ;  while  over  all 
was  spread  the  rich  deep-blue  canopy  of  the  California 
sky. 

Mollie  drew  a  deep  breath  expressive  of  her  admira 
tion  of  the  scene  before  her  as  she  said,  speaking  as 
much  to  herself  as  to  her  companion,  "  No ;  it  would 
be  almost  sacrilege  to  desecrate  this  beautiful  picture 
with  my  crude  scrawling.  Even  the  most  skilful  of 
artists  would  fail  to  do  full  justice  to  its  beauty." 

"May  I  hope,  then,  that  I  am  justified  in  your 
opinion  ?"  Warren  asked,  wishing  to  keep  up  for  the 
present  the  badinage  in  which  they  had  been  indulging. 

"  Fully." 

"And  forgiven?" 

"  Fully.  But  what  is  coming  now  ?"  she  asked,  as 
the  soft  tinkling  of  bells  came  to  their  ears,  still  faint 
in  the  distance,  but  gradually  coming  nearer. 

"No  demon  of  the  mountains  or  the  forests.  So 
much  the  reverse,  that  you  ought  to  be  familiar  with 
the  sight  by  this;  it  is  even  so  commonplace  and 
homely  a  thing  as  a  load  of  wood.  Come,  let  us  make 
room,  then  wait  and  see  if  my  prophecy  is  not  ful 
filled,"  Warren  answered. 

They  reined  their  horses  to  the  side  of  the  road 
farthest  from  the  precipice,  then  faced  them  about, 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  $9 

waiting.  Again  Mollie's  eyes  wandered  to  the  green 
fields  dotting  the  distant  hill-sides  miles  away,  although 
every  feature  of  the  landscape  came  out  with  perfect 
distinctness  in  the  clear  atmosphere. 

"What  grain  is  that  growing  in  those  fields  on  the 
hills  over  there,  Mr.  Warren  ?"  she  asked. 

"Faith,  I  can't  tell  you.  You  could  not  ask  a 
worse  authority  than  myself  as  to  agricultural  matters," 
he  answered,  flecking  with  his  riding-whip  an  acorn 
from  the  oak  overhanging  him  as  he  spoke.  "  If  you 
were  to  ask  me  its  value  as  acreage  property  you  would 
be  within  my  province,  and  I  would  give  you  an  an 
swer  in  which  you  would  always  find  my  appraisement 
varying  in  an  ascending  or  descending  scale  as  you 
appeared  in  the  character  of  purchaser  or  seller.  As 
for  what  the  land  produces,  there  my  opinion  is  worth 
less.  But  here  comes  an  authority  ;  let  us  consult  him." 

As  he  spoke  the  tinkling,  which  had  been  continu 
ally  growing  nearer,  now  sounded  close  at  hand,  and 
around  the  turn  came  eight  horses,  harnessed  two  and 
two,  drawing,  as  Warren  had  prophesied,  a  huge  load 
of  wood  piled  in  three  wagons,  which  were  fastened 
one  behind  another.  The  bells  were  upon  the  collar 
of  the  leader ;  the  driver  rode  one  of  the  horses  next 
the  wagon.  When  the  team  had  come  abreast  of  them, 
Warren  hailed  the  driver  and  put  Mollie's  question, — 

"  I  say,  friend,  can  you  tell  us  what  grain  is  growing 
in  those  fields  off  on  yonder  hills  ?" 

The  driver  reined  in  his  horses,  ready  to  stop  for  a 
friendly  chat,  and  answered,  "I  can  that,  colonel. 
That's  a  mighty  fine  ranch  over  there.  Yer  kin  raise 
anything  under  the  sun  and  moon  over  there.  See  them 


70  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

white  spots  off  on  the  hill  over  thataway,  lookin'  like 
a  graveyard  ?  Them's  hives.  That's  a  bee-ranch ;  and 
there's  a  right  smart  o'  bees  over  thar,  yieldin'  a  right 
smart  o'  honey  too.  They  gave  suthin'  over  a  ton  last 
year.  Then,  off  on  the  hill  that  away,that  green  field's 
barley.  Then,  off  thataway,  that  smaller  field's  spuds." 

Mollie  looked  sadly  perplexed  as  this  unfamiliar 
name  was  spoken,  thinking  at  first  that  she  had  mis 
understood.  Glancing  from  Warren's  amused  face  to 
the  bland  and  serious  countenance  of  the  driver,  she 
said,  "  I  beg  your  pardon ;  but  I  don't  think  I  under 
stood  that  last  name." 

"  I  say,  them's  spuds,"  he  explained,  as  he  discharged 
a  huge  quid  of  tobacco  preparatory  to  refreshing  him 
self  with  a  fresh  chew. 

Mollie's  face  became  almost  pathetic  in  her  per 
plexity. 

"  I — I  fear  I  don't  quite  know  what  that  is.  Does 
it  grow  out  of  California  ?"  she  asked. 

"  It  grows  the  world  over,  Miss  Wade,"  Warren  an 
swered,  laughing  heartily  at  her  puzzled  expression. 
"  One  does  not  often  hear  the  word  in  household  life, 
even  in  this  part  of  the  world,  where  I  believe  it  is 
alone  indigenous.  But  '  spud'  is  the  commercial  name 
in  California  for  the  potato." 

"  O-h-h  !"  said  Mollie,  prolonging  the  interjection  ; 
and,  touching  her  horse  with  her  whip,  she  dashed  down 
the  road  unceremoniously,  and  was  around  the  turn 
and  out  of  sight  in  an  instant.  Bidding  the  friendly 
driver  "good-morning,"  Warren  galloped  after  her, 
and  soon  overtook  her — indeed  he  found  her  waiting 
for  him — in  an  oak  grove  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  7} 

Checking  his  horse  at  her  side,  Warren  asked  her,  as 
soon  as  laughter  would  permit  him  to  speak,  "Why 
did  you  take  your  departure  so  very  unceremoniously, 
Miss  Wade?" 

"  I  hope  you  did  not  think  that  I  was  running  away 
from  you,  Mr.  Warren/7  Mollie  answered.  "  I  assure 
you  that  I  had  no  such  intention.  But  while  I  am 
willing  to  do  almost  anything  for  your  sake,  I  cannot — 
I  cannot,  even  to  enjoy  the  delights  of  your  society,  re 
main  in  the  presence  of  a  man  so  wholly  lost  to  the  better 
instincts  of  human  nature  that  he  can  call  that  useful 
article,  the  potato,  by  such  a  horrible  name  as  i  spud.' ?> 

Warren  placed  his  hand  upon  his  heart  and  bowed 
low  in  his  saddle.  "For  myself,  thanks  awfully. 
For  your  explanation,  it  is  sufficient,  and  I  share  in 
your  sentiments  fully.  Yes,  in  every  particular,"  he 
added,  hastily  forestalling  the  question  he  saw  her 
about  to  put.  "  I  altogether  agree  with  you  as  to  the 
charms  of  my  society,  while  I  share  your  feelings  of 
horror  as  to  the  name  of  the  vegetable  we  have  just 
heard.  But  look,"  he  said,  pointing  up  the  hill.  "  There 
come  our  dilatory  companions ;  shall  we  wait,  or  ride 
on  before  them  ?" 

"  Let  us  wait,"  she  requested,  anxious  to  avoid  any 
further  attempt  at  love-making. 

Warren,  of  course,  assented ;  so,  waiting  until  the  rest 
of  the  party  were  close  upon  them,  they  then  turned 
their  horses  and  rode  on,  still  keeping  sufficiently  in 
advance  to  be  by  themselves. 

"Mr.  Glenn  does  not  seem  to  be  an  accomplished 
horseman,"  Mollie  remarked,  glancing  back  towards  the 
other  pair  of  equestrians  in  the  party  as  she  spoke. 


72  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

"  No,"  Warren  answered,  also  looking  back  to  observe 
them.  "  He  seems  to  be  almost  as  much  of  a  tyro  as 
Miss  Lake.  In  her  case  her  want  of  skill  is  pardon 
able,  for  she  is  an  Eastern  girl.  In  his  case  there  is  no 
excuse,  for  he  has  been  out  here  for  years,  and  every 
Californian  rides." 

"As  they  have  safely  come  so  far  on  their  journey,  I 
suppose  we  need  not  feel  anxious  about  them  ?"  Mollie 
laughingly  asked. 

"  Not  at  all.  Their  riding  is  safe  even  if  it  is  not 
beautiful,"  Warren  answered,  in  the  same  spirit  as  that 
in  which  the  question  had  been  asked. 

"  Be  careful  of  your  criticisms,  sir ;  I  am  an  Eastern 
girl  as  well  as  Miss  Lake,"  Mollie  severely  returned. 

"  But  you  know  how  to  ride,"  Warren  protested. 

"Oh,  yes,"  she  answered,  "I  have  always  known 
how  to  ride.  I  have  spent  half  my  life  at  least  in 
the  country  and  so  among  horses,  and  I  cannot  remem 
ber  a  time  when  I  did  not  know  how  to  ride.  But 
most  of  our  Eastern  girls  are  not  so  fortunate  as  to 
enjoy  such  opportunities  for  learning  the  art  of  riding 
as  have  always  been  mine.  But  how  far  are  we  from 
our  destination  ?" 

"  A  little  more  than  two  miles.     Are  you  tired  ?" 

"  Tired  ?  No  indeed !  I  could  ride  forever  in  this 
delightful  air  and  warm  sunlight." 

A  brisk  ride  of  a  few  minutes  over  a  road  as  hard 
and  even  as  a  floor  and  the  party  were  in  the  street  of 
a  quiet  village  nestling  between  two  spurs  of  the  Sierra 
Madre  Mountains,  the  high  peaks  towering  up  towards 
the  blue  heavens  on  either  side.  The  street  was  shaded 
by  huge  live-oaks,  while  green  fields  lay  on  either  hand. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  73 

"  What  a  lovely  place  I"  Mollie  exclaimed,  her  eyes 
sparkling  with  delight  and  admiration. 

"  Is  it  not  ?"  Warren  asked  in  reply.  "  To  my  mind 
this  is  the  veritable  Happy  Valley.  It  is  rightly 
named  Ojai,  is  it  not  ?" 

"  I  am  afraid  I  am  not  qualified  to  pronounce  judg 
ment  on  that  point/'  Mollie  answered.  "I  did  not 
know,  until  this  moment,  that  the  word  possessed  any 
meaning." 

"  The  natives  tell  us  that  it  does,"  Warren  returned. 
"Tradition  says  that  it  is  an  Indian  word  meaning 
'  Eagle's  Nest ;'  and,  to  my  mind,  no  more  beautiful  or 
appropriate  name  could  have  been  given  to  this  lovely 
valley  than  that  by  which  its  savage  possessors  first 
called  it." 

"  It  does  perfectly  describe  it,"  Mollie  answered.  "  It 
does  resemble  a  huge  nest  held  in  the  arms  of  the 
mountains." 

"  There  is  our  destination,"  said  Warren,  pointing  as 
he  spoke  towards  a  group  of  pretty  cottages  whose 
white  sides  gleamed  out  in  pleasant  contrast  to  the 
green  of  the  oak-trees  beneath  which  they  nestled.  "  It 
is  a  unique  way  of  building  a  hotel,  is  it  not?"  he 
added.  "This  grouping  together  a  little  village  of 
neat  cottages.  But  I  like  the  idea ;  it  harmonizes  so 
perfectly  with  this  delicious  climate  and  romantic 
country." 

"  Yes,"  Mollie  answered,  "  and  the  name  is  appro 
priate  and  self-suggestive  in  this  instance  also.  As 
one  looks  at  these  great  trees  gracefully  draped  in 
moss,  which  shade  the  buildings,  the  name  ( Oak  Glen' 
comes  to  one's  lips  almost  of  itself." 
D  7 


74  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

t 
Assisting  her  to  dismount,  they  stood  waiting  upon 

:he  veranda  of  the  principal  cottage  until  the  rest  of 
the  party  came  up;  then  Warren  said,  as  the  others 
dismounted  and  came  up  to  where  he  and  Mollie  stood 
waiting, — 

"Now  what  is  the  verdict?  Shall  we  have  dinner 
now,  or  shall  we  wait  and  rest  ?  Don't  all  speak  at 
once,  please.  Mrs.  Conyngham,  what  do  you  say?" 
turning  to  the  Kector's  wife,  whom  Mitchell  had  that 
moment  handed  from  the  carriage. 

"  I  am  not  at  all  tired,  while  I  am  very  hungry," 
that  lady  replied. 

"I  think  we  all  share  the  same  sentiments,"  said 
Mrs.  Mitchell.  "A  grace  of  fifteen  minutes  will  be 
sufficient  for  us  to  repair  the  damages  incurred  during 
our  journey." 

The  merry  party  was  soon  gathered  around  the  table 
in  the  pleasant  dining-room  of  the  Oak  Glen  cottages. 

"  I  rejoice  to  see  that  you  have  safely  encountered 
the  manifold  dangers  of  field,  forest,  mountain,  and 
flood,"  Warren  said,  addressing  Mrs.  Mitchell  in  a 
manner  as  serious,  and  conveying  as  much  congratu 
lation,  as  though  she  had  safely  come  through  the  most 
deadly  perils. 

"  You  may  laugh  at  me  all  you  choose,  Mr.  Warren, 
but  I  assure  you  it  is  no  small  tax  on  one's  nerves  to 
ford  streams,  and  ride  up  mountains  and  through 
passes,  behind  two  spirited  horses  which  are  managed 
by  an  unskilful  driver,"  she  answered,  severely. 

"  Only  hear  that  now !"  her  husband  interposed, 
twisting  his  face  into  what  he  intended  should  repre 
sent  the  keenest  mental  anguish.  "  And  that  from  my 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  75 

own  wife  !  You  would  think  that  the  horses  had  been 
managing  me,  instead  of  I  them.  But  the  proverb  is 
true,  and  I  see  it  substantiated  in  my  own  family  every 
day  :  no  man  is  great  to  the  members  of  his  own  house 
hold.  I  must  remember  that  I  do  not  suifer  this  misery 
alone." 

"You  did  very  well  indeed  this  time,  John  Addi- 
son,"  his  wife  answered,  in  a  tone  at  once  conciliatory 
and  patronizing.  "  You  did  not  commit  one  reckless 
act,  and  you  were  not  very  awkward.  But  you  cannot 
expect  me  to  place  implicit  confidence  in  your  driving 
after  you  have  once  upset  me." 

"  That  was  more  than  three  years  ago,  and  I  hear  of 
it  every  day  of  my  life ;  and  I  suppose  that  I  shall 
until  my  life  is  ended,"  said  Mitchell,  laying  down  his 
knife  and  fork  and  looking  around  upon  the  members 
of  the  party,  every  feature  of  his  countenance  making 
a  pathetic  appeal  for  their  sympathy. 

"  I  think  it  very  likely  that  he  may  have  upset  you 
purposely,  to  give  you  reason  for  the  want  of  confi 
dence  in  his  skill  which  you  were  expressing  at  that 
very  time,"  said  the  Rector,  addressing  Mrs.  Mitchell. 

"  Thank  you,  thank  you,  Mr.  Conyngham,"  Mitchell 
answered,  his  manner  expressing  the  consolation  these 
words  afforded  him.  "That  is  a  suggestion  I  shall 
always  highly  value.  My  dear,  will  you  kindly  bear 
in  mind  after  this,  that  I  capsized  you  through  skilful 
driving,  and  not  out  of  awkwardness  ?  and  tremble  in 
silence  for  the  future  lest  a  worse  fate  befall  you." 

"  Warren  !  do  take  your  fingers  out  of  your  mouth  !" 
Mrs.  MitchelFs  voice  rang  out  sharply  above  the 
merry  conversation  of  the  little  party.  The  whole 


76  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

company  started  in  surprise,  the  mild-mannered  little 
Rector  dropping  his  eye-glasses  into  his  plate  in  his 
consternation,  while  Mr.  Glenn  turned  and  stared  at 
his  partner,  wondering  if  his  hostess  had  taken  sudden 
leave  of  her  senses  that  she  should  think  he  could  be 
guilty  of  such  a  breach  of  good  manners.  For  a  mo 
ment  all  eyes  were  fixed  upon  Warren,  who  was  quietly 
eating  his  soup  when  Mrs.  Mitchell  spoke.  He  started 
so  suddenly  at  her  sharp  voice  that  he  dropped  his 
spoon  to  the  floor  in  his  confusion ;  then,  turning  several 
colors  at  once,  he  stooped  to  pick  it  up. 

As  soon  as  the  words  had  left  her  lips  Mrs.  Mitchell 
remembered  how  they  must  sound  to  her  companions, 
and  covering  her  face  with  her  hands  she  cried, — 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Warren,  forgive  me  !  I  spoke  to  my  son, 
not  to  you.  But  I  cannot  say  any  more ;  words  will 
not  help  matters  at  all." 

Warren  glanced  across  the  table  at  Mollie ;  and,  as 
their  eyes  met,  she  burst  into  a  merry  laugh,  in  which 
he  joined,  amused  at  the  absurdity  of  the  situation  in 
spite  of  his  sudden  start  and  confusion. 

"  I  cannot  say  that  I  should  heartily  enjoy  such  an 
occurrence  at  a  state  dinner-party ;  but  in  an  informal 
gathering  where  we  are  all  so  well  acquainted  I  think 
I  shall  survive  it ;  only  please  don't  repeat  the  experi 
ment  too  often,"  Warren  said  in  answer  to  Mrs. 
Mitchell's  explanation. 

"  My  dear,  your  power  over  me  is  forever  broken," 
Mitchell  gravely  remarked  to  his  wife.  "  Never  in  my 
worst  moments  did  I  make  such  a  break  as  that.  I 
shall,  hereafter,  use  this  little  affair  as  a  counter-irri 
tant." 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  77 

His  wife  looked  up  at  him  beseechingly,  but  made 
no  answer. 

After  dinner  the  party  broke  up ;  the  men  going  off 
for  a  walk,  and  to  enjoy  their  cigars :  all,  that  is,  save 
Mr.  Conyngham,  who,  as  he  did  not  smoke,  remained 
with  the  ladies  to  escort  them  around  the  village. 
After  supper  Warren  invited  Mollie  to  accompany  him 
in  a  moonlight  ramble. 

She  threw  a  lace  wrap  mantilla-wise  about  her  head 
and  shoulders,  and  they  strolled  together  through  the 
quiet  village  street. 

"I  am  more  than  grateful  to  you  for  suggesting 
this  excursion,  Mr.  Warren.  But  for  you  I  should 
never  have  come  here ;  and  I  should  have  gone  home 
without  visiting  one  of  the  prettiest  places  in  the  coun 
try/'  she  said,  looking  up  into  the  brilliant  starlit  sky 
as  she  spoke. 

"  I  fear  that  Mitchell  would  never  have  undertaken 
the  journey  without  the  strong  persuasion  we  employed. 
There  are  disadvantages  as  well  as  advantages  attaching 
to  his  size,  are  there  not  ?"  Warren  answered. 

Mollie  laughed  as  she  replied, — 

"In  his  profession  he  is  industry  personified;  but 
he  does  bitterly  hate  anything  like  physical  exertion." 

"  Now,  my  own  case  is  just  the  reverse,"  said  War 
ren.  "  I  never  yet  shrank  from  any  amount  of  fatigue 
which  was  undergone  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure ;  while 
the  very  thought  of  work  would  invariably  do  me  up 
completely.  I  did  not  know  that  I  could  work  six 
months  ago.  Were  you  ever  in  Italy  ?" 

Mollie  looked  at  him,  surprised  at  his  abrupt  change 

of  subject 

7* 


78  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"  No.     Why  ?"  she  answered. 

"  The  question  was  not  prompted  by  any  profound 
ideas  struggling  for  expression ;  I  hope  you  do  not 
think  it,  for  if  so  you  are  doomed  to  disappointment. 
I  was  merely  thinking,  when  I  spoke,  of  what  we  so 
continually  hear  and  read  about,  the  beautiful  Italian 
skies ;  and  I  was  wondering  if  they  could  surpass  the 
skies  of  California,"  Warren  replied. 

"  I  cannot  picture  to  myself  a  sky  more  lovely  than 
this,"  she  said  in  her  soft,  musical  voice,  again  looking 
up  with  dreamy  eyes  to  the  brilliant  stars.  "Its 
warmth  and  brightness  are  the  very  pledge  of  health 
and  life." 

Warren  looked  at  the  fair  face,  so  sweet  and  pure  in 
expression,  and  never  more  fair  than  now,  bathed  in 
the  soft  moonlight. 

"  Yes,"  he  answered,  "  it  is  a  feeble  illustration  of 
what  a  pure  love  can  make  the  life  of  man.  It  trans 
forms  and  beautifies  him ;  and  its  magical  influence 
makes  him  as  unlike  what  he  once  was  as  this  for 
tunate  country,  blessed  by  its  genial  atmosphere,  is 
unlike  the  frozen  East." 

Mollie  looked  quickly  at  him,  half  startled,  half 
amused ;  then  she  dropped  her  eyes  as  she  answered, 
"  I  did  not  know  that  you  were  a  poet,  Mr.  Warren." 

"Nor  am  I,  unless  being  inspired  by  one's  own 
experience  be  to  possess  poetic  gifts,"  he  replied,  look 
ing  at  her  so  significantly  that  she  could  neither  evade 
nor  ignore  his  meaning. 

"  I  am  not  an  unbeliever  in  the  power  of  love,"  she 
answered,  her  lips  trembling  as  she  spoke.  "How 
can  I  be,  when  I  daily  see  so  many  lives  made  happy 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  79 

by  it?  But,  after  all,  I  think  that  friendship  is  to 
many  a  safer  and  a  better  guide  through  life.  Love, 
sometimes,  is  only  a  bitter-sweet;  friendship  has  all 
the  sweet,  and  none  of  the  bitter ;  all  of  the  sweetness 
that  can  ever  exist  in  love  comes  from  the  element  of 
friendship  which  must  always  enter  into  it.  So,  in 
friendship,  one  has  all  the  gain  with  no  possibility  of 
the  loss  love  must  sooner  or  later  bring  to  those  who 
accept  it." 

Warren  listened  to  her  words  sick  at  heart.  He  un 
derstood  her  delicate  reproof  of  his  attempted  courtship 
now  as  thoroughly  as  he  had  done  in  the  morning. 
He  had  intended  to  test  her;  he  wished,  so  far  as 
might  be  possible,  to  make  sure  of  her  sentiments  to 
wards  himself  before  risking  his  present,  possibly  his 
future,  hopes  upon  the  chances  of  an  open  declaration. 
She  had  understood  his  purpose;  and,  unwilling  to 
give  him  needless  pain;  unwilling  to  end  the  good- 
fellowship  existing  between  them ;  wishing  to  spare 
him  the  mortification  of  appearing  before  his  friends, 
her  sister  and  brother,  in  the  guise  of  a  rejected  lover, 
which  the  termination  of  their  companionship  would 
reveal  even  though  the  secret  were  preserved  by  them, 
she  at  once  seized  upon  the  opportunity  that  his  words 
afforded  her  of  delicately  warning  him  that  she  was 
in  earnest  in  desiring  him  to  look  upon  her  as  a 
friend,  and  to  attempt  to  gain  no  closer  intimacy. 

"Friendship,"  said  Warren,  bitterly,  unable  to 
wholly  conceal  how  deeply  he  was  hurt.  "  Yes,  when 
this  is  offered  one  who  wishes  more,  it  is  like  the  offer 
we  are  told  of,  where  one  offers  a  stone  to  him  who 
asks  for  bread." 


80  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Mollie  returned  no  answer,  but  silently  walked  at  his 
side,  still  looking  down  upon  the  ground.  Warren's 
arm  trembled  under  the  light  touch  of  her  little  hand 
resting  upon  it;  and,  after  a  moment's  silence,  she 
raised  her  eyes  to  his,  saying, — 

"  Come,  it  is  late ;  we  ought  to  return  to  the  cottage." 

"Without  making  any  reply  he  turned  back  with  her. 
Silently  they  walked  to  the  cottage  side  by  side,  and 
simply  bidding  one  another  "  good-ni'ght,"  they  parted 
until  the  morning. 

Until  the  morning !  To  Warren  it  seemed  as 
though  death  itself  could  not  have  parted  them  more 
widely,  more  cruelly,  than  those  few  words  spoken 
during  that  short  walk.  They  would  meet,  it  was 
true,  when  the  sun  brought  in  another  day;  but  for 
him  the  meeting  would  have  more  of  pain  than  of 
pleasure.  The  stronger  grew  the  hunger  of  his  longing, 
the  farther  some  unseen,  intangible,  perverse  influence 
was  drawing  them  apart. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

WHEN  Warren  returned  to  Ventura  he  found  that, 
in  addition  to  his  own  sorrows,  he  was  likewise  fated 
to  aid  others  in  bearing  their  griefs. 

The  Elkins  household  was  in  confusion.  There  was 
nothing  at  all  worthy  of  especial  note  in  this  fact  when 
it  was  considered  by  itself;  for  it  was  seldom,  very 
seldom,  that  tranquillity  reigned  over  this  domestic 
realm  with  peaceful  and  undisputed  sway. 

Warren  had  accurately  described  his  landlady  when 
he  called  her  a  "California  Yankee."  Mrs.  Elkins 
was  fifty,  and  perhaps  a  little  past  this  age.  She  was 
tall,  and  as  straight  as  that  mathematically  accurate 
tree,  so  wearisome  and  exasperating  in  its  correct  pro 
portions,  the  Norfolk  Island  pine,  a  specimen  of  which 
adorned  her  own  gardens ;  while  she  was  almost  as 
slender,  and  almost  as  unbending  in  her  nature.  Her 
features  were  sharp ;  her  eyes  were  shrewd  and  piercing ; 
her  lips  were  thin  and  closely  shut. 

She  had  never  known  an  hour's  sickness  in  her  life, 
and  was  unrelenting  in  her  contempt  for  those  less 
favored  than  herself  in  this  respect.  In  her  disposition 
she  was  what  the  natives  call  "  a  hustler."  She  had  no 
idea  of  the  meaning  of  tranquillity  herself,  and  she 
permitted  no  one  else  to  enjoy  it,  so  far  as  her  power 
extended  to  end  its  dominion.  Although,  at  her  hus 
band's  death,  he  had  left  her  almost  wealthy,  she  had 
never  permitted  this  fact  to  soften  her  life  in  the  least ; 

81 


82  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

but  she  worked  as  hard,  lived  as  frugally,  and  saved  as 
carefully  as  in  the  days  of  poverty  which  she  had 
known  in  her  early  married  life.  Although  she  was  a 
woman  of  strong  affections,  and  was  devotedly  attached 
both  to  her  husband  and  her  son,  it  would  have  seemed 
to  her  the  merest  weakness  to  manifest  any  outward  signs 
of  affection ;  and  while  inwardly  she  had  adored  her  hus 
band  and  mourned  his  loss  every  hour  of  her  life,  and 
little  less  than  idolized  her  son,  outwardly  she  was  as 
hard  as  iron,  sarcastic  and  fault-finding,  and  was  as 
consistently  merciless  to  him  as  to  herself.  Industrious 
to  a  fault,  from  early  morning  until  far  into  the  even 
ing  she  was  overburdened  with  work ;  and,  although 
she  was  up  before  the  sun,  like  the  English  statesman 
immortalized  by  his  over-activity,  she  "  seemed  to  lose 
an  hour  out  of  the  beginning  of  eatfh  day,  and  lived  in 
a  whirl,  vainly  trying  to  catch  up." 

Knowing  as  well  as  he  did  by  this  time  the  char 
acter  of  his  landlady,  it  would  have  caused  Warren  the 
greatest  surprise  to  find  the  house  in  anything  less  than 
a  turmoil ;  but  he  at  once  saw  that  the  present  tempest 
was  of  extraordinary  severity,  and  that  it  had  its 
origin  in  causes  of  greater  consequence  than  those 
which  usually  prevailed. 

"Well,  well,  Mrs.  Elkins,  what  is  the  matter? 
Jake,  are  you  in  disgrace  again?"  he  asked,  as  he 
came  into  the  dining-room,  where  Jake  was  sitting 
the  picture  of  despair,  while  his  mother  was  whirling 
about,  a  perfect  cyclone  of  combined  wrath  and  industry, 
trying  to  sweep  and  to  scold  at  the  same  time. 

"Yes,  it  is  Jake,"  she  cried,  angrily  flourishing 
her  broom.  "I  have  as  good  a  mind  to  break  this 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  83 

over  his  head  as  ever  I  had  to  do  anything  in  my 
life." 

"  What  has  he  been  up  to  now  ?  Put  down  your 
broom  and  let  me  hear  about  this  fresh  calamity/'  said 
Warren,  seating  himself  on  the  lounge  as  he  spoke,  and 
laying  his  hat  and  overcoat  by  his  side. 

"  You  may  try  to  laugh  it  off,  Mr.  Warren,"  Mrs. 
Elkins  answered,  with  fire  in  her  eyes,  "but  it's  no 
laughing  matter,  I  assure  you.  Here's  Jake,  spite  of 
all  I  could  say  or  do,  'd  keep  hanging  around  a  nasty 
Greaser  girl;  and  last  night  that  old  Greaser,  her 
father,  drove  him  off,  like  he'd  been  a  dog.  That  was 
bad  enough,  even  if  a  white  man  'd  done  it.  But  that 
my  son — a  decent  boy,  and  the  son  of  a  respectable 
man — should  be  hounded  round  by  a  dirty,  low-lived 
Greaser :  it's  more  than  flesh  and  blood  can  stand." 
And  Mrs.  Elkins  began  sweeping  furiously,  in  the  vain 
attempt  to  work  off  her  wrath. 

"See  here,  mother,"  Jake  said,  firmly,  and  looking 
more  manly  than  Warren  had  ever  seen  him  appear 
before.  "  Don't  talk  like  that  about  Camilla  :  it  seems 
like  I  can't  stand  it  to  hear  you.  You  may  say  what 
you  like  about  me,  and  I  don't  mind  how  much  you 
cuss  the  old  man,  but  you  mustn't  run  down  Camilla. 
She  ain't  no  Greaser,  and  you  know  it.  She's  a  nice 
girl,  and  you  know  that  too.  I  ain't  goin'  to  hear 
nobody  say  no  bad  things  about  her,  not  even  you." 

"  Are  you  going  to  turn  against  your  own  mother, 
Jake  ?"  Mrs.  Elkins  asked,  with  her  tears  lying  veiy 
near  the  surface. 

"  No  !  I  ain't  goin'  to  turn  against  nobody.  I  know 
what  I  owe  you ;  I  know  what  I  owe  her ;  and  you 


84  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

ought  to  know  what  you  owe  the  girl  I'm  goin'  to 
marry.  All  I  ask  is  that  you'll  treat  her  and  speak 
of  her  as  you  ought,"  Jake  answered. 

As  soon  as  she  heard  this  challenge  to  her  hitherto 
unresisted  authority  the  tears  were  all  gone  and  the 
fire  once  more  blazed  in  Mrs.  Elkins's  eyes.  "You 
marry  her,  indeed  !  I  think  I  see  you  doing  it !"  she 
exclaimed,  with  the  bitterest  scorn  in  her  voice.  "  Be 
fore  you  can  marry  her  you've  got  to  get  her  out  of 
that  house  first,  and  into  this  house  over  me  next ;  and 
what  I  want  to  know  is,  how  you're  going  to  work  to 
do  it?"  And  once  more  the  broom  was  called  into 
active  service. 

Warren  was  anxious  to  get  at  the  merits  of  the  case 
and  cure  the  difficulty,  if  there  were  any  cure  for  it ; 
but  to  do  this  he  must  first  stop  Mrs.  Elkins's  flow  of 
bitter  words,  which  would  not  be  possible  while  the 
irritating  cause  continued  in  her  presence.  Her  power 
of  caustic  eloquence  was,  unfortunately,  almost  un- 
liniited,  and  she  always  gave  full  play  to  her  feelings. 
Nothing  remained,  therefore,  but  to  get  Jake  by  him 
self  and  learn  the  whole  story,  and  then  see  what  could 
be  done  for  him. 

He  was  the  more  anxious  to  do  this  because  he 
saw  that,  underneath  the  lad's  uncouth  exterior,  there 
was  a  fund  of  good  principle  and  a  wealth  of  good 
material  which  only  needed  to  be  brought  to  the  sur 
face  to  make  of  him  a  manly  and  a  valuable  man. 
Unfortunately,  he  had  never  had  any  proper  home- 
training,  and  he  was  in  great  danger  of  becoming 
utterly  idle  and  shiftless  for  that  reason ;  but,  with  a 
motive  before  him,  and  with  a  fair  chance  in  his  start 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  35 

in  life,  he  was  equally  likely  to  come  out  all  right. 
The  motive,  Warren  felt  sure,  now  existed  in  Jake's 
true  affection  for  his  Spanish  girl ;  the  chance  he  was 
anxious  to  make  for  him,  and  he  thought  that  he  would 
soon  have  an  opportunity  of  doing  this ;  therefore  he 
was  anxious  to  keep  good  his  present  influence  over 
him.  So,  rising  from  his  chair,  he  said, — 

"  Jake,  I  have  a  little  work  I  would  like  you  to  do 
for  me  this  morning ;  come  down  to  the  office." 

Jake  rose  listlessly  from  his  chair,  as  though  life 
possessed  no  further  charms  for  him  and  it  made  no 
manner  of  difference  where  he  went  or  what  he  did. 

"  Now,  Jake,"  his  mother  exclaimed,  "  don't  you  go 
where  you  hain't  no  business  to  be,  and  get  in  trouble 
and  bring  worse  disgrace  on  us  than  you  have  already." 

"  Don't  worry  Jake  or  fret  yourself,  Mrs.  Elkins," 
Warren  answered.  "  I  will  see  that  he  is  all  right ;  I 
shall  not  lead  him  very  far  astray." 

"Oh,  I  know  he's  all  right  so  long  as  he  stays  with 
you,  but  he  won't  keep  with  you  all  the  time ;  then, 
when  he  gets  off  by  himself,  there's  no  telling  where 
he'll  be  or  what  he'll  do."  And  with  this  parting 
shaft  she  banged  the  dining-room  door  after  them  as 
they  passed  out  into  the  hall  and  then  to  the  street. 

Jake's  was  not  a  strong  character,  certainly.  He 
was  not  manly ;  he  was  not  self-assertive ;  while  he 
was  altogether  too  ready  to  submit  his  judgment  to 
the  opinion  of  others,  and  to  yield  himself  to  another's 
guidance,  with  the  inevitable  result  that  he  was  uni 
versally  regarded  by  all  who  knew  him  best  as  a  great, 
good-natured,  lubberly  fellow  who  did  not  amount  to 
very  much  and  never  would. 

8 


86  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Warren,  however,  looked  beneath  the  surface.  He 
perfectly  understood  the  fact  that  it  would  require 
more  moral  strength  than  usually  falls  to  the  lot  of 
man  to  stand  against  Mrs.  Elkins's  masterful  nature ; 
while,  for  a  son  trained  from  his  earliest  years  to  hear 
and  obey,  this  would  be  little  less  than  impossible.  It 
had  become  a  second  nature  to  Jake  to  yield  to  his 
mother's  will  and  implicitly  obey  her  wishes,  and  this 
he  would  continue  to  do  so  long  as  he  continued  to  live 
with  her  and  remain  dependent  upon  her.  That  there 
was  good  stuff  in  the  young  fellow  Warren  was  cer 
tain  ;  and  all  that  was  wanted  to  bring  him  out,  and 
transform  him  from  an  overgrown  boy  into  a  man,  was 
to  get  him  released  from  his  mother's  overwhelming 
influence. 

"  I  have  my  carriage  all  ready  for  us,  you  see.  I 
am  going  out  into  the  country  a  short  distance  to  look 
at  some  property,  and  I  want  you  to  go  with  me," 
Warren  said,  as  they  reached  the  sidewalk. 

"  All  right,  sir ;  I  don't  know  of  anything  to  pre 
vent  ;  seems  like  I'd  as  lief  do  that  as  anything  else," 
Jake  answered,  as  he  climbed  into  the  carriage. 

As  Warren  took  the  reins  into  his  hands  he  said, 
"  Now,  Jake,  you  don't  seem  very  chipper  this  morn 
ing.  I  want  you  to  tell  me  all  about  your  trouble ; 
and  remember  that  I  meant  what  I  said  when  I  told 
you  that  I  stood  ready  to  help  you  in  any  possible 
way." 

"Thank  you,  sir,"  Jake  answered,  despondently. 
"  I  don't  think  you  can  do  much  for  me.  I  think  of 
goin'  East,  though.  If  you  know  anybody  back  there 
who'll  give  me  a  job  I'll  be  glad  of  that." 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  87 

"Going  East!"  Warren  exclaimed,  in  surprise. 
"What  on  earth  is  taking  you  East?" 

"  You  see  it's  this  way,"  Jake  answered,  resolved  to 
make  a  clean  breast  of  the  matter,  sure,  at  least,  of 
obtaining  sympathy,  even  if  Warren  should  prove  to 
be  unable  to  render  more  substantial  aid.  "  Last  night 
I  met  Camilla  at  the  house  of  a  friend  of  hers,  and 
when  she  was  ready  to  go  home,  of  course  I  went 
home  with  her." 

"  Of  course,"  Warren  answered ;  "  and  I  suppose  it 
is  equally  of  course  that  you  went  to  that  friend's  house 
without  the  slightest  notion  that  the  young  lady  would 
be  there.  These  chance  meetings  are  always  purely 
accidental." 

Jake  grinned  feebly,  but  made  no  other  answer; 
then  resumed  once  more  the  thread  of  his  story  of 
painful  adventure. 

"After  we  got  to  her  house  we  stood  in  the  yard 
talkin',  when  out  come  the  old  man,  madder  'n  a 
hatter,  and  sent  her  in.  Then  he  took  me  by  the 
collar  and  told  me  that  he'd  known  what  was  goin'  on 
a  good  while,  and  had  been  layin'  for  me.  He  was 
goin'  to  put  an  end  to  this  now,  and  if  I  ever  dared 
come  hangin'  round  there  again  he'd  shoot  me ;  then 
he  run  me  oif  the  place.  I  could  'a'  busted  him  easy 
as  nothin',"  Jake  added,  clinching  his  huge  fist  as  he 
spoke,  "  and  I  come  mighty  near  doin'  it  once ;  but  I 
remembered  he  was  Camilla's  father  and  an  old  man, 
and  so  I  didn't.  Now  that  darned  brother  of  hers  '11 
go  and  tell  about  it  all  over  town,  and  it  seems  like  I 
couldn't  stand  it,  so  I  guess  I'll  go  East." 

Warren  felt  his  respect  profoundly  increased  for  the 


88  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

young  giant  at  his  side,  who  had  submitted  to  indignity 
rather  than  put  forth  his  strength  against  an  old  man, 
and  the  father  of  the  girl  he  loved,  even  though  he 
knew  at  the  time  that  he  was  subjecting  himself  to  the 
charge  of  cowardice  and  want  of  spirit,  and  exposing 
himself  to  the  ridicule  of  his  friends. 

"You  did  right,  Jake,  very  right,"  Warren  said, 
cordially  commending  his  conduct.  "  You  have  shown 
yourself  a  brave  man.  It  would  have  been  no  act  of 
valor  on  your  part  to  use  your  strength  against  an  old 
man,  while  it  was  a  brave  thing  in  you  to  keep  your 
temper  and  restrain  yourself  under  strong  provocation. 
It  is  always  cowardly  to  do  wrong,  and  it  is  brave  to 
do  right ;  while  it  is  the  braver  thing  to  do  the  harder 
you  find  it  to  do." 

Jake  looked  comforted.  "  I  was  kind  of  afraid  to 
tell  you,  because  I  thought  you'd  think  I  sneaked  off 
like  a  whipped  cur,"  he  answered. 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  Warren  cordially  replied. 

Oftentimes  the  least  promising  scions,  by  virtue  of 
careful  pruning  and  cultivation,  become  the  finest  and 
most  profitable  trees  in  the  orchard.  Perhaps  this 
tribulation  through  which  Jake  was  now  passing  was 
the  very  pruning  process  necessary  to  bring  out  the 
best  that  was  in  him.  Warren  felt  convinced  of  this 
in  his  own  mind,  and  he  resolved  that  it  should  be 
through  his  counsel,  advice,  and  assistance  that  his 
faculties  were  put  forth  in  the  right  direction.  The 
feeling  that  he  was  being  of  real  use  to  some  one,  and 
that  he  was  doing  something  to  promote  the  fortunes 
of  another,  was  a  novel  sensation  to  Warren,  whose 
career  had  been,  up  to  this  time,  the  idle  routine  of 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  $9 

pleasure  characteristic  of  the  young  man  of  wealth. 
He  found  it  a  pleasant  experience,  however,  and  the 
role  of  "My  Lord  Bountiful"  was 'one  he  thoroughly 
enjoyed,  not  only  because  it  ministered  to  his  self- 
importance,  but  also  because  it  strengthened  his  self- 
respect.  The  idle  life  he  had  hitherto  lived  had  not 
been  chosen  of  deliberate  intention.  Like  other  men, 
he  had  accepted  the  career  which  had  been  opened 
before  him  by  circumstances  and  the  accident  of  birth 
as  the  one  which  he  ought  to  accept  without  question. 
He  had  floated  with  the  tide,  not  because  this  course  best 
pleased  him,  but  because  he  knew  of  nothing  else  to 
do.  The  pleasure  to  be  derived  from  lending  a  help 
ing  hand  to  one  who  needed  his  aid  came  to  him  like 
a  revelation,  and,  as  he  always  entered  into  everything 
that  he  attempted  with  all  his  heart  and  soul,  he  de 
termined  to  do  everything  in  his  power  to  assist  his 
protege  in  the  advancement  of  his  fortunes,  while  he  was 
equally  desirous  of  obtaining  all  the  pleasure  possible 
for  himself  in  doing  it. 

"You  say  you  are  going  East,  Jake.  Have  you 
made  up  your  mind  where  you  want  to  go  ?"  Warren 
asked,  flicking  a  fly,  which  was  displaying  remarkable 
adhesive  qualities,  from  his  horse  with  the  lash  of  his 
whip  as  he  spoke.  The  spirited  animal,  accepting  this 
as  a  hint  that  those  behind  him  were  anxious  that  he 
should  do  better  in  his  time,  jumped  violently ;  then, 
setting  back  his  ears,  whirled  over  the  road  at  almost 
double  his  former  speed. 

"  Careful,  Mr.  Warren ;  this  ain't  no  horse  to 
monkey  with,  and  this  ain't  just  the  place  to  show 
tricks  in  drivin'.  There's  a  turn  in  the  road  ahead  of 

8* 


90  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

us,  and  I'd  rather  take  time  goin'  down  into  the 
valley/7  Jake  remonstrated.  Then  he  added,  in  answer 
to  the  question  Warren  had  put  to  him, — 

"  No,  I  hain't  no  choice  where  I  go ;  I  don't  know 
nobody  out  of  Californy,  so  it  can't  make  no  manner 
of  odds  to  me  where  I  fetch  up.  All  I  want  is  to  get 
out  of  this ;  and  I  was  thinking  of  Denver,  or  perhaps 
Salt  Lake." 

Warren  had  not,  as  yet,  become  altogether  accus 
tomed  to  the  Californian's  habit  of  speaking  of  every 
thing  on  the  other  side  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas  as 
"  East ;"  therefore,  as  he  still  regarded  these  two  cities, 
like  every  other  Easterner,  as  being  in  the  remote  West 
and  located  on  the  very  confines  of  civilization,  Jake's 
locating  them  in  the  "East"  seemed  to  him  delight 
fully  absurd,  and  he  laughed  heartily ;  then,  observing 
Jake's  look  of  hurt  surprise  at  a  merriment  which 
seemed  to  him  altogether  uncalled  for,  Warren  con 
trolled  his  amusement  and  answered, — 

"  I'll  tell  you  frankly  what  I  think,  Jake  :  my  opin 
ion  is  that  you  had  better  stay  right  here.  You  have 
not  given  up  your  young  lady  because  of  last  night's 
misfortunes,  have  you  ?" 

"What  do  you  take  me  for,  Mr.  Warren?"  Jake 
indignantly  answered.  "  She  ain't  to  blame  for  what 
happened.  Of  course  I  sha'n't  give  her  up.  I'm  goin' 
to  stick  to  her  through  thick  and  thin,  and  she's  goin' 
to  stick  to  me." 

"  Then  what  do  you  want  to  go  away  for  ?"  Warren 
urged. 

Jake  looked  steadily  at  the  horse's  tail,  as  though 
the  caudal  appendage  of  the  animal  before  him  had 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  91 

suddenly  developed  some  new  and  hitherto  undiscovered 
interest  for  him. 

"Well,"  he  answered,  "  I  thought  it  would  be  pleasant 
to  get  away  from  home  for  a  while  and  see  the  world." 

Warren  looked  his  companion  fully  in  the  face  as  he 
said, — 

"  To  tell  the  truth  and  shame  the  party  whom  truth 
is  popularly  supposed  to  put  to  the  blush,  you  want  to 
get  away  so  as  to  dodge  the  talk.  Isn't  that  about 
plumb  centre  of  the  target  ?" 

Jake  fidgeted  a  little,  then  answered,  desperately, — 

"  You've  hit  it,  Mr.  Warren." 

"  Now,  Jake,"  Warren  went  on,  in  the  friendly,  per 
suasive  tone  which  never  failed  to  carry  conviction  to 
the  soul  of  an  unwilling  investor,  and  which  invariably 
brought  him  up  to  the  purchasing-point, — "  Now,  Jake, 
you  don't  want  to  spoil  the  whole  business  by  flinching 
at  the  last  moment.  I  advise  you  to  stay  here  and  go 
to  work.  It  won't  be  fair  to  Miss  Carballo  to  go  away 
and  leave  her  to  face  the  talk  alone, — in  case  there  is  any, 
which  is  by  no  means  an  established  fact, — and  it  won't 
be  fair  to  yourself.  You  know  the  old  saying  about  the 
unfailing  tribulation  which  belongs  to  every  love-affair ; 
and  you  can't  expect  to  be  an  exception  to  the  general 
rule.  There  are  by  far  more  hopeless  cases  than  yours." 

This  last  Warren  said  in  a  sad  tone,  as  he  thought 
of  his  own  difficulties. 

"  What  kind  of  work  had  I  better  do  ?"  Jake  asked. 

"I  will  find  something  for  you,  if  you  will  only 
agree  to  do  it,"  Warren  answered. 

"  I  certainly  will,"  Jake  replied,  with  a  ready  acqui 
escence  which  Warren  had  by  no  means  expected. 


92  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"That,  I  think,  is  your  best  plan/7  Warren  con 
tinued.  "  If  you  can  make  a  home  for  yourself  and 
wife,  that  will  put  an  end  to  all  the  present  trouble. 
You  are  of  age,  and  so  is  the  young  lady.  There  may 
be  opposition  on  the  part  of  your  respective  families, — 
indeed,  we  know  that  there  will  be, — but  time  will 
settle  all  that ;  so,  if  you  will  do  as  I  say,  your  case  is 
very  far  from  hopeless." 

"  I'll  stay  here  and  work  like — like  a  man,"  Jake 
answered,  speaking  more  cheerfully  than  he  had  done 
before  during  the  ride. 

They  had  now  reached  the  property  Warren  had 
come  to  inspect.  It  was  late  in  the  evening  before  they 
turned  towards  home ;  and  after  arriving  in  Ventura, 
as  they  parted  at  the  stable,  Jake  to  go  home,  Warren 
to  go  to  the  hotel  for  his  supper,  he  sadly  thought  upon 
his  protege's  courtship,  and  contrasted  it  with  his  own. 
In  Jake's  case,  a  happy  issue  seemed  almost  certain  to 
come  about  sooner  or  later ;  for  himself,  he  dared  not 
hope  for  such  a  result.  Opposition  from  without  was 
not  the  most  fatal  enemy  to  happiness,  even  though 
this  was  manifested  by  the  parents  of  those  chiefly  con 
cerned.  With  him,  the  contest  was  against  the  young 
lady's  own  indifference  to  himself.  Were  Mollie  even 
averse  to  him,  he  would  regard  his  prospects  as  being 
far  more  hopeful,  for  even  this  would  show  that  she 
did  sometimes  think  of  him,  at  least  often  enough  to 
discover  reasons  for  disliking  him.  But  as  she  could 
not  be  brought  to  think  of  him  at  all,  there  was  clearly 
nothing  before  him  but  a  life-long  heart-hunger,  des 
tined  never  to  be  appeased. 


CHAPTEK    VIII. 

"  THIS  letter  is  from  Torn."  The  information  was 
given  by  Mrs.  Mitchell,  who  was  seated  in  the  large 
bay-window  which  formed  the  corner  of  her  gitting- 
room ;  a  pleasant  seat,  and  one  which  not  only  gave 
her  the  full  enjoyment  of  both  mountain  and  ocean 
scenery,  but  also  commanded  a  prospect  far  up  and 
down  the  main  street  of  the  town,  permitting  her  to 
observe  all  that  was  going  on,  while  it  also  afforded 
her  the  privilege,  so  dear  to  the  feminine  heart,  of 
seeing  how  the  female  portion  of  humanity  which 
thronged  the  sidewalk  below  was  attired ;  of  comment 
ing  on  the  taste,  or  want  of  it,  which  was  there  dis 
played  ;  and  of  remarking  to  whomsoever  might,  at  the 
time,  be  in  her  company,  that  one  of  the  passers-by  was 
becomingly  arrayed,  while  the  taste  of  another  was 
wretchedly  bad  :  "  She  simply  has  no  idea  at  all  how 
to  dress,  my  dear ;  only  look  !  her  clothes  couldn't  look 
worse  if  they  had  been  thrown  at  her."  But  Mrs. 
Mitchell's  thoughts  were  otherwise  occupied  this  after 
noon,  for  the  Eastern  mail  had  just  come  in,  and  she 
had  been  made  happy  with  a  large  packet  of  letters 
from  home.  Tom,  in  whose  epistle  she  was  now 
deeply  absorbed,  was  her  brother,  many  years  older 
than  herself,  a  prosperous  business  man,  and  happy  in 
the  possession  of  a  large  family,  a  proportionately 
larger  fortune ;  and  happiest  of  all,  the  politicians 
would  have  told  him,  by  his  residence  in  that  great 

93 


94  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

State  among  whose  citizens  he  had  the  honor  of  being 
enrolled, — Ohio. 

"This  letter  is  from  Tom/7  Mrs.  Mitchell  again 
remarked,  without  raising  her  eyes  from  its  pages. 

"  Ah !"  Mitchell,  replied,  without  raising  his  eyes 
from  the  important  business  letter  he  was  engaged  in 
writing,  in  answer  to  one  he  had  just  received,  and 
with  his  mind  so  wholly  occupied  with  the  work  in 
hand  that  he  had  not  heard  a  word  of  what  his  wife 
had  been  saying. 

"  Yes/7  she  answered,  reading  from  the  letter  in  her 
hand ;  "  he  says  that  his  oldest  girl  has  been  very  sick 
indeed." 

Mitchell's  thoughts  were  far  away  ;  indeed,  they  were 
at  that  moment  on  the  Atlantic  coast  with  the  trouble 
some  client  whose  letter  he  was  then  answering.  Al 
though  he  had  heard  nothing,  like  a  dutiful  husband 
he  felt  called  upon  to  make  some  kind  of  an  answer ; 
so,  without  raising  his  eyes,  or  suspending  the  rapid 
scratching  of  his  pen  for  a  moment,  he  replied  at 
random, — 

"  That's  good,  I  am  sure." 

"  Good  !"  Mrs.  Mitchell  indignantly  exclaimed,  look 
ing  up  from  her  letter  with  a  glance  of  withering  scorn. 
"  Would  you  think  it  '  good '  if  our  little  Warren  were 
to  almost  die  of  pneumonia  ?  You  have  not  been 
paying  the  slightest  attention  to  me,  and  you  have  not 
heard  a  single  word  of  what  I  have  been  saying." 

"My  dear,"  Mitchell  replied,  with  his  customary 
serenity  of  manner,  "consider  me  humbled  to  the 
earth  by  your  scorn,  but  let  justice  be  tempered  with 
mercy,  and  remember  that  I  have  a  very  important 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  95 

business  matter  in  hand;  and,  being  only  a  man,  I 
have  not  your  feminine  capacity  for  doing  several 
things  at  once  and  doing  them  all  equally  well." 

Mrs.  Mitehell  laughed,  but  her  retort  was  checked 
by  the  entrance  of  Mollie,  who,  at  this  moment,  came 
into  the  room  dressed  in  her  riding-habit,  but  looking 
tired  and  very  much  out  of  temper.  Laying  her  hat 
on  the  table,  she  dropped  upon  the  lounge  with  a 
profound  sigh,  and  began  to  draw  off  her  gloves. 

"Did  you  and  Mr.  Warren  have  a  pleasant  ride, 
dear  ?"  asked  Mrs.  Mitchell,  at  the  same  time  handing 
to  her  sister  the  letter  she  had  already  read. 

"  Oh,  yes,  the  ride  was  pleasant  enough,  I  suppose," 
she  answered,  indifferently. 

"  What  is  the  matter,  then  ?  You  look  thoroughly 
out  of  sorts,"  Mrs.  Mitchell  persisted. 

"  I  am ;  I  feel  literally  and  completely  exhausted  by 
the  mechanical  pursuits  in  which  I  have  been  engaged," 
Mollie  replied,  leaning  back  on  the  lounge  and  clasping 
her  hands  behind  her  head. 

"Mechanical  pursuits?"  repeated  Mrs.  Mitchell, 
throwing  several  interrogation  points  into  her  tone  and 
looking  completely  mystified;  while  Mitchell,  who 
had  not  followed  the  conversation,  but  had  overheard 
the  last  remark,  held  his  pen  suspended  in  the  air  on 
its  way  to  the  inkstand,  looking  at  her  in  surprise. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered ;  "so  I  think  I  may  call  it, 
since  I  have  been  busy  for  two  mortal  hours  rigging  a 
guy." 

"  See  here,  Mollie,"  Mitchell  interposed,  deeply  of 
fended  at  Mollie' s  slighting  reference  to  her  late  escort ; 
and,  throwing  down  his  pen  as  he  spoke,  he  rose  from 


96  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

his  chair,  his  voice  and  manner  expressive  of  more 
anger  than  he  usually  permitted  himself  to  display, 
and  which  he  himself  afterwards  said  he  thought  "  un 
becoming  in  a  man  of  his  weight  in  the  community/7 
— "  see  here,  Mollie,  I  cannot  permit  you  to  use  such 
language  in  reference  to  any  gentleman  whom  I  admit 
into  intimacy  with  myself  and  family,  and  whom  you 
receive  as  an  escort  yourself.  How  do  you  justify  any 
such  epithet  as  applied  to  Mr.  Warren  ?  You  know 
yourself  that  he  is  an  accomplished  gentleman." 

"  As  far  as  clothing  is  concerned,  and  when  manners 
are  also  taken  into  account,  I  admit  he  is  a  gentleman. 
But,  apart  from  these,  I  find  very  little  in  the  young 
man  to  challenge  admiration,"  Mollie  replied,  not  in 
the  least  dismayed  by  her  brother-in-law's  indignation. 

"  I  would  not  admit  the  fact,  Miss  Wade ;  the  con 
fession  speaks  very  little  for  your  good  sense  or  your 
character.  Do  principles  have  no  weight  in  your  esti 
mation  of  a  man  ?  or  have  you  not  brains  enough  to 
appreciate  education  when  you  meet  it?" 

Mollie  still  remained  uncrushed,  and  answered  with 
that  same  air  of  utter  weariness  with  which  she  had 
entered  the  room, — 

"To  use  your  own  words,  which  you  are  so  very 
fond  of  repeating,  'a  man's  merits  depend  more 
upon  the  use  which  he  makes  of  his  acquirements  than 
upon  what  he  possesses ;'  and  as,  so  far  as  I  can  see, 
Mr.  Warren  makes  no  use  of  his  education  and  very 
little  of  his  principles,  on  the  basis  of  your  own  wise 
maxim,  he  might  almost  as  well  be  without  them." 

This  was  even  worse  than  calling  him  a  mental  and 
moral  guy;  and,  as  her  charges  were  altogether  un- 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  97 

founded,  and  as  Warren  was  no  more  deserving  of  the 
bad  opinion  she  now  expressed  of  him  than  he  was  of 
her  scorn,  Mitchell  determined  to  adopt  a  course  which, 
as  it  happened,  was  the  only  wise  one  for  him  to  pur 
sue,  that  of  making  her  define  her  accusations  and 
defend  her  charges.  In  this  way,  and  in  this  way 
only,  would  it  be  possible  to  bring  her  to  reason  and 
make  her  retract  her  words. 

"  You  have  made  a  very  sweeping  statement,  young 
lady/7  he  answered,  sternly,  to  her  last  caustic  speech. 
"  Now  you  must  maintain  your  position  by  giving  me 
positive  proof  of  the  truth  of  your  words,  or  else  I  shall 
insist  upon  your  apologizing  for  such  language.  What 
do  you  mean  by  charging  my  friend  with  want  of  prin 
ciple?  You  must  remember  that  such  a  charge  re 
flects  upon  me  as  well  as  upon  him,  and  it  amounts  to 
accusing  me  of  admitting  a  scoundrel  into  intimacy 
with  my  family." 

This  was  severe  upon  Mollie,  for  she  had  not  had 
any  definite  idea  of  her  own  meaning  when  she  spoke, 
and  had  merely  uttered  the  words  in  a  pique  growing 
out  of  a  momentary  misunderstanding  with  Warren, 
without  thinking  how  her  words  would  sound  to  others, 
while  they  conveyed  no  real  meaning  to  her  own  mind. 
She  was,  however,  too  thoroughly  a  woman  to  be  left 
without  a  reply ;  so  she  answered,  with  the  same  indif 
ferent  tone  and  manner  in  which  she  had  spoken  ever 
since  she  entered  the  room, — 

"  You  read  in  my  words  a  meaning  that  I  certainly 

had  no  intention  of  conveying.     All  I  meant  was,  that 

it  certainly  takes  no  great  amount  of  education  to  delude 

poor  unsophisticated  Easterners  into  speculating  in  real 

E       g  9 


98  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

estate ;  and  after  sitting  so  long  as  I  have  beneath  the 
droppings  of  your  wisdom,  I  have  had  it  strongly  im 
pressed  upon  my  mind  that  this  is  not  a  calling  calcu 
lated  to  produce  the  highest  mental  or  moral  growth." 

In  spite  of  his  anger,  Mitchell  could  hardly  keep 
himself  from  smiling  at  the  girl's  determination  to 
defend  herself  by  quoting  words  she  had  heard  him 
speak  from  time  to  time  in  reference  to  the  prevailing 
rage  for  speculation;  while  he  felt  his  indignation 
gradually  disappear  as  it  became  clear  to  him  that  her 
severe  words  were  really  without  meaning,  and  were 
promoted  by  no  deeper  feeling  than  a  passing  pettish- 
ness  growing  out  of  some  recent  disagreement  with  his 
friend.  He  abated  nothing  from  the  severity  of  his 
manner,  however,  and  answered,  as  gravely  as  before, — 

"  Mollie,  my  only  regret  that  Mr.  Warren  is  engaged 
in  his  present  calling  is  based  upon  the  fact  that  I  fear 
he  may  do  himself  a  serious  injury ;  I  know  him  well 
enough  to  be  sure  that  he  will  not,  intentionally,  injure 
others.  He  will  do  his  best  to  make  every  Easterner 
realize  a  handsome  return  from  his  investments ;  and 
remember  that  a  man  can  be  just  as  honest  in  real- 
estate  operations  as  in  any  other  calling.  I  also  think 
that  it  would  be  well  for  you  to  remember  that  words 
are  dangerous  things,  and  that  you  should  use  them 
with  corresponding  carefulness.  And  I  must  say, 
Mollie,  that  if  you  dislike  Mr.  Warren  so  cordially, 
it  is  in  very  bad  taste  for  you  to  be  so  much  in  his 
company." 

"Who  says  that  I  dislike  him?  I  am  very  sure 
that  I  never  said  so,"  Mollie  answered,  with  true 
feminine  inconsequence,  rising  from  her  seat  as  she 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  99 

spoke,  and  gathering  together  her  belongings,  together 
with  the  letter  which  her  sister  had  given  her,  prepara 
tory  to  going  to  her  own  room. 

Mitchell  seated  himself  at  the  table  again  with  a 
sigh,  and  took  up  his  pen  with  an  air  of  utter  hope 
lessness. 

"  Well,  Mollie,"  he  said,  "  being  a  woman,  you  are, 
of  course,  incorrigible ;  and,  like  every  other  woman, 
you  can  reason  only  in  a  circle.  I  judged  of  your 
sentiments  towards  Warren  merely  from  your  own 
words,  and  they  certainly  indicated  that  you  felt 
anything  rather  than  friendly  towards  him." 

Mollie  went  to  the  door,  partly  opened  it,  then  stood 
hesitating  a  moment  with  her  hand  upon  the  knob 
before  she  answered, — 

"  To  be  sure  we  are  friends,  and  I  suppose  that  is 
the  reason  we  don't  like  each  other  any  better.  We 
are  bidden  to  love  our  enemies,  you  know,  but  nothing 
is  said  about  friends;  and  I  am  afraid  that  I  am  not 
a  good  enough  Christian  to  think  very  highly  of  my 
friends,  even  if  it  were  commanded ;  they  let  me  know 
them  altogether  too  well  for  that." 

As  she  closed  the  door,  after  delivering  this  parting 
speech,  Mrs.  Mitchell,  who  had  been  silently  listening 
to  the  conversation,  looked  up  with  a  glance  of  shrewd 
intelligence  and  said, — 

"  John  Addison,  if  that  is  not  for  all  the  world  like 
a  man  I" 

"What  peculiarly  masculine  proclivity  have  you 
recently  added  to  the  already  long  list  of  discoveries 
which  has  rewarded  your  painstaking  researches  into 
my  character  ?"  Mitchell  asked  in  reply  to  his  wife's 


100  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

exclamation,  dipping  his  pen  into  the  ink  as  he  spoke, 
and  preparing  to  once  more  resume  his  interrupted 
letter.  Without  directly  replying  to  this  question, 
Mrs.  Mitchell  came  over  to  where  he  was  sitting,  and, 
seating  herself  by  his  side,  laid  her  hand  upon  his, 
with  a  gesture  half  caressing  and  half  coaxing,  while 
she  looked  up  into  his  face  with  an  expression  in  her 
eyes  that  he  by  no  means  understood. 

"  Well,  my  dear,  what  is  it  ?  Why  does  black  care 
sit  like  a  brooding  shadow  upon  your  usually  smiling 
face?"  he  asked. 

"  John,"  she  began,  very  seriously, — "  John,  answer 
me  truly.  Would  you  be  very  sorry  if  Mr.  Warren 
and  our  Mollie  were  to  become  fond  of  one  another  ?" 

Mitchell  once  more  laid  down  his  pen,  wondering 
in  his  soul  when  this  letter  would  ever  be  finished; 
and,  leaning  back  in  his  chair,  he  took  his  wife's  hand 
affectionately  in  his  own  and,  patting  it  caressingly, 
replied, — 

"  Why,  no,  certainly  not !  She  could  not  have  a 
better  husband  than  he  would  make  her ;  while  as  for 
Mollie,  a  man  might  go  the  world  over  without  finding 
so  nice  a  girl  as  she,  now  that  you  are  out  of  the  case. 
But  what  put  that  idea  into  your  head  ?  I  see  no  signs 
of  an  ardent  and  increasing  affection  between  them." 

Mrs.  Mitchell  shook  her  pretty  head  with  impressive 
seriousness  and  demurely  answered, — 

"  No,  John,  I  did  not  suppose  that  you  would  have 
noticed  anything ;  you  are  only  a  man,  you  know.  To 
a  woman's  keen  perceptions  the  signs  are  very  clear 
indeed  ;  and  now  I  want  you  to  understand  me,  John," 
she  added,  with  playful  severity :  "  I  am  no  match- 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  1Q1 

maker,  and  for  all  the  world  I  would  not  make  or  mar 
in  the  matter,  yet  I  would  not  be  sorry  to  see  it  come 
about,  and  I  asked  your  views  in  reference  to  the  situ 
ation  because  you  are  doing  everything  in  your  power 
to  break  up  any  liking  for  the  man  that  Mollie  may 
already  have  growing  in  her  heart." 

This  last  she  said  while  tapping  his  hand  with  her 
fingers  to  give  emphasis  to  her  words.  Mitchell  was 
completely  taken  aback  by  this  charge;  he  could 
hardly  have  been  more  overcome  had  his  wife  deliber 
ately  charged  him  with  being  the  chief  promoter  of  the 
Sharon  case,  or  laid  to  his  account  almost  any  other 
affair,  past  or  present,  of  which  he  knew  nothing  and  in 
which  he  felt  very  little  interest. 

"  Why,  goodness  gracious,  Effie !"  he  exclaimed. 
"What  do  you  mean?  This  affair  is  none  of  my 
business,  and  I  hope  you  don't  mean  to  accuse  me  of 
meddling  in  love-matters.  What  have  I  done  ?" 

His  wife  laughed  merrily  at  his  consternation  and 
disgust,  and  at  once  proceeded  to  enlighten  him  as  to 
his  sins,  though  at  first  rather  vaguely,  saying, — 

"  I  can  think  of  very  little  that  is  stupid  that  you 
have  not  done,  while  you  seem  to  have  a  perverse 
inspiration  which  prompts  you  to  keep  on  in  your 
ridiculous  proceedings." 

Mitchell's  round,  good-natured  face  now  became 
overcast  with  a  very  serious  expression. 

"  Please  explain  yourself,  Effie,  and  let  me  definitely 
know  my  sins/7  he  replied. 

His  wife  at  once  complied  with  his  request  and  pro 
ceeded  to  unfold  before  him  the  long  catalogue  of  his 
oifendings. 

9* 


102  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

"To  begin  at  the  beginning/7  she  said,  "you  know 
that  Mollie  and  Mr.  Warren  first  met  under  very  embar 
rassing  and,  to  her,  distressing  circumstances.  You,  in 
your  idiotic  love  of  a  i  joke/  were  the  one  who  brought 
about  this  painful  situation  by  needlessly  bringing  them 
face  to  face,  and  then,  as  I  have  always  thought,  very 
meanly  leaving  them  to  extricate  themselves  as  best 
they  could  from  the  difficulties  in  which  that  unhappy 
exchange  of  trunks  had  placed  them.  Of  course  the 
whole  situation  was  absurd,  but  you  made  it  painful, 
which  it  had  no  need  to  have  been.  While  Mollie  is 
sufficiently  fair-minded  not  to  let  all  this  prejudice 
her  against  the  man,  she  would  have  to  be  either  more 
or  less  than  human  if  it  did  not  create  in  her  mind  an 
antagonism  towards  him  ;  and  this  you  have  all  along 
taken  the  utmost  pains  to  increase  by  doing  as  you 
have  done  to-day,  for  instance, — I  mean,  by  arguing 
with  her  about  every  little  pettish  speech  to  which  she 
gives  utterance,  which  really  means  nothing  at  all,  and  is 
prompted  by  nothing  deeper  than  mere  girlish  pique." 

Mitchell  sat  fairly  aghast  and  wholly  defenceless  as 
his  wife  poured  the  overwhelming  volume  of  these 
charges  upon  him. 

"  Do  you  mean,  Effie,  that  I  ought  to  permit  her  to 
make  any  absurd  accusations  against  Warren  the  whim 
of  the  moment  may  dictate,  and  do  nothing  to  make  her 
see  her  injustice  ?"  he  asked,  after  a  moment's  silence 
necessary  for  collecting  the  ideas  Effie  had  put  to  utter 
rout. 

"I  mean  that  I  look  deeper  than  you,  my  dear," 
she  replied,  "  and  I  see  underneath  this  manner  which  is 
so  distressing  to  you  a  growing  liking  for  Mr.  Warren 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  1Q3 

and  for  his  society.  She  herself  is  half  conscious  of  this, 
and  the  old  antagonism,  which  is  your  own  work, 
remember,  causes  her  to  criticise  him  and  find  fault 
with  his  doings.  Now,  Mr.  Warren  is  no  nearer  per 
fect  than  any  other  man,  and  is,  consequently,  open  to 
criticism.  If  you  say  nothing  and  pay  no  attention  to 
her  little  bitter  speeches  beyond  laughingly  checking 
her  when  she  is  unreasonable,  the  matter  will  take  care 
of  itself.  But  if  you  make  a  serious  thing  of  it,  you 
will  waken  all  the  antagonism  she  has  ever  felt  into 
opposition  to  yourself  and  hostility  to  him,  and  she  will 
end  in  simply  hating  the  man.7' 

Mitchell  did  not  know  what  answer  to  make  to  this. 
He  was  not  versed  either  in  the  history  of  love  or  in 
the  laws  by  which  it  works ;  neither  did  he  understand 
the  principles  which  underlie  that  most  mysterious  of 
all  things,  the  workings  of  a  woman's  mind ;  so  he  sat 
listening  to  his  wife  with  a  feeling  of  utter  helplessness, 
which  manifested  itself  in  his  inconsequent  answer, — 

"  I  am  no  match-maker,  Effie ;  that  is  not  a  man's 
business.  I  prefer  not  to  interfere." 

Again  Mrs.  Mitchell's  laugh  rang  out  merrily. 
"That  is  exactly  what  I  have  been  asking  all  this 
time/'  she  answered.  "  I  don't  want  you  to  interfere ; 
and  what  I  am  asking  is,  that  you  will  simply  let  the 
child  alone.  Don't  magnify  every  little  manifestation 
of  pique  into  a  serious  matter ;  be  patient  even  if  she 
is  foolish  and  unjust;  remember  that  she  is  really 
vexed  with  herself,  not  with  him ;  and,  while  she  is 
seemingly  blaming  Mr.  "Warren,  the  truth  is  that  she 
is  scolding  herself  for  liking  the  very  man  whom  she 
thinks  herself  almost  in  honor  bound  to  dislike." 


104  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

Mitchell  was  about  to  reply,  but  his  answer  was  cut 
short  by  a  knock  at  the  door;  and,  rising  from  her 
seat,  Mrs.  Mitchell  opened  it  to  usher  in  the  person 
under  discussion.  He  greeted  them  with  a  cordial 
"  Good-evening,  friends,"  as  he  entered  the  room,  at 
the  same  time  placing  on  the  table  a  large  package 
which  he  had  been  carrying. 

Mitchell  thought  within  himself,  as  he  welcomed 
his  friend,  that,  however  troubled  the  course  of  love 
might  be  in  his  case,  he  certainly  gave  no  external 
evidence  of  distress,  but  carried  every  outward  indi 
cation  of  being  a  prosperous  and  happy  man  to  whom 
the  world  was  giving  all  that  he  could  reasonably  ask. 
But  this  was  the  masculine  and  unreflecting  manner  of 
looking  at  the  case.  Had  he  spoken  of  his  thoughts 
to  his  wife,  or  had  he  even  taken  counsel  of  his  own 
pride,  either  one  of  these  monitors  would  have  told 
him  that,  of  all  disappointments,  this  was  the  very 
one  which  must  be  carefully  concealed  from  the  world. 
However  confiding  a  man  may  be  by  nature,  however 
freely  he  may  display  his  sorrows  before  his  sympa 
thetic  friends,  he  cannot  go  about  like  the  Mater  Dolo- 
rosa  in  the  religious  pictures,  with  his  transfixed  heart 
held  prominently  before  the  gaze  of  all  beholders ;  but, 
however  cruel  his  pain  may  be,  with  Spartan  courage 
he  must  conceal  his  sufferings  behind  a  smiling  counte 
nance. 

"Good-evening,"  Mitchell  replied,  returning  his 
friend's  greeting.  "You  fulfil  the  old  proverb,  for 
we  were  discussing  you  just  as  you  came  in." 

"Indeed,"  Warren  answered,  seating  himself  and 
beginning  to  undo  the  package  as  it  lay  on  the  table 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  1Q5 

before  him.  "  In  what  way  have  I  verified  the  wisdom 
of  our  ancestors,  by  the  rustling  of  wings,  or  by  the 
display  of  a  cloven  hoof?" 

"  We  regard  you  as  possessing  wings,  of  course,  Mr. 
Warren ;  it  is  needless  to  ask  us  our  opinion  of  you/' 
Mrs.  Mitchell  replied. 

"  Thanks,  awfully  !"  Warren  answered.  "  Consider 
me  with  my  hand  upon  my  heart  bowing  low  before 
you  in  graceful  acknowledgment  of  your  pretty  speech. 
My  hands  are  too  full  of  these  documents,  however,  to 
permit  my  making  any  physical  response." 

"  What  have  you  got  there  ?"  Mitchell  asked,  rising 
and  coming  to  Warren's  side  in  order  to  see  for  himself. 

"  I  have  come  to  explain  that  very  point,"  Warren 
answered.  "  These  are  the  bills  advertising  our  great 
Oakdale  land  sale  which  comes  off  next  Monday.  You 
have,  none  of  you,  ever  seen  a  true  California  '  boom ;' 
and  although  I  know,  of  course,  that  you  will  not  in 
vest,  yet  I  want  you  all  to  go,  for  such  a  sale  as  this 
will  be  is  one  of  the  sights  of  the  age." 

"  Ah  !"  Mitchell  observed,  as  he  read  over  the  pros 
pectus  Warren  gave  to  him,  "  this  is  the  culmination 
of  the  scheme  that  you  were  mentioning  to  me  some 
few  weeks  back,  is  it  not  ?" 

"  Yes,"  Warren  replied.  "  Things  are  now  ripe  for 
a  '  boom,7  and  we  are  going  to  have  a  big  one." 

"  You  go  the  full  figure,  I  see." 

"  Yes ;  extra  trains,  free  lunch,  brass  band,  and  all," 
Warren  answered,  laughing. 

"We  must  certainly  go,  John  Addison,"  Mrs. 
Mitchell  interposed.  "  It  is  unlike  anything  that  we 
ever  have  at  home,  and  if  we  do  not  see  it  we  shall 


106  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

lose  one  of  the  most  interesting  sights  our  country  can 
show  us." 

"No  tourist  has  fulfilled  the  true  purpose  of  his 
pilgrimage  unless  he  has  taken  in  a  'boom'  auction 
sale ;  and  it  not  infrequently  happens  that  he  is  taken 
in  at  one.  Of  course  we  must  go ;  but  we  must  care 
fully  guard  against  the  last  terrible  possibility,"  Mitchell 
answered.  "  What's  your  hurry  ?  Sit  down/'  he  added, 
as  Warren,  having  again  tied  up  his  package,  rose  from 
his  chair  and  prepared  to  go. 

"  I  can't  stay ;  I  have  a  good  deal  to  accomplish 
between  now  and  Monday,"  Warren  replied. 

"  Sit  down,  Mr.  Warren ;  it  certainly  -will  not  take 
you  long  to  stop  just  a  minute,"  Mrs.  Mitchell  urged. 

"  Thank  you ;  but  I  must  not  remain  even  that  brief 
length  of  time.  I  have  to  see  that  these  bills  gain  an 
extended  circulation.  I  will  call  again,  though,  before 
Monday,"  Warren  answered,  and,  bidding  his  friends 
good-by,  he  took  his  leave. 


CHAPTEE    IX. 

THE  Monday  made  memorable  in  the  history  of 
Ventura  City  and  County  by  being  the  day  of  the  great 
Oakdale  land  sale  dawned  fair  and  clear.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  this,  for  weather  never  enters  into  the 
calculations  of  a  Californian.  The  rains  were  now  over 
until  the  following  winter ;  there  was  no  fear  of  either 
clouds  or  showers  to  mar  the  pleasure  and  ruin  the 
temper  and  the  clothing  of  the  participants  in  any  out 
door  enterprise.  Fog,  however,  was  a  possibility, 
though  the  probabilities  were  that,  should  any  appear, 
it  would  all  blow  away  before  mid-day.  But  even 
this  slight  annoyance  was  wanting,  and  the  day  dawned 
with  nothing  to  dampen  the  enthusiasm  of  possible 
purchasers,  or  to  ruffle  their  tempers.  If  climate  and 
weather  combined  could  make  the  Oakdale  "boom" 
a  success,  nature  certainly  was  smiling  upon  it,  and  the 
great  land  sale,  so  far  as  she  could  further  its  interests, 
would  long  be  remembered  as  among  the  greatest  and 
most  brilliant  successes  of  that  land  of  great  enterprises 
successfully  projected,  Southern  California. 

From  early  dawn  the  streets  of  Ventura  had  been 
thronged.  Horsemen  in  picturesque  variety  of  costume 
and  mounted  on  every  description  of  the  genus  horse, 
from  the  sober  and  sedate  animal  born  of  many  gener 
ations  of  careful  and  trusty  family  servants  to  the  fiery- 
eyed,  half-wild  bronco,  were  galloping  to  the  scene  of 
the  sale.  The  sidewalks  were  thronged  with  pedes- 

107 


108  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

trians  drawn  from  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men : 
swarthy  Mexicans  and  fair  Anglo-Saxons ;  sunburned 
ranchmen  and  well-kept,  carefully-dressed  tourists; 
here  and  there  a  face  darker  than  the  others  told  the 
spectator  that  its  possessor  was  one  of  the  very  few  now 
to  be  found  endowed  with  a  strain  of  the  old  Indian 
blood ;  while  mingled  with  the  rest  could  be  seen  the 
bland,  smiling,  but  withal  shrewd  face  of  John  China 
man,  watching  with  keenest  interest  these  latest  pro 
ceedings  of  the  "  Mellican  man." 

About  half-past  eight  o'clock  the  sound  of  music 
was  heard  far  down  the  street,  sounding  loud  and  clear 
above  the  hum  of  voices  and  the  sound  of  the  city 
streets.  A  brass  band,  seated  in  a  band-wagon  which 
was  decorated  with  flags  and  covered  with  bills  and 
flyers  advertising  the  sale,  drove  slowly  through  the 
streets  on  its  way  to  the  scene  of  the  auction,  followed 
by  a  long  procession  of  carriages  which  continually 
received  new  accessions. 

The  crowd  thronging  the  street  and  sidewalks  now 
began  to  lessen  rapidly,  as  the  throngs  made  their  way 
in  'buses,  express-wagons,  or  on  foot  towards  the 
station,  where  a  special  train  was  waiting  to  take  all 
comers  to  the  now  vacant  tract,  soon  (if  the  visions  of 
the  projectors  of  the  scheme  became  realized)  to  be 
covered  with  the  beautiful  villas,  elegant  homes,  the 
substantial  business  houses,  not  to  mention  the  grand 
churches  and  unrivalled  school  buildings  of  that  pros 
perous,  growing,  and  beautiful  city,  Oakdale,  which, 
although  it  was  counted  as  a  suburb  of  San  Buenaven 
tura,  was  destined  to  become  a  rival  to  the  metropolis 
of  the  Santa  Clara  Valley  of  the  South  herself;  while 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  1Q9 

in  beauty,  in  healthfulness  of  location,  for  picturesque- 
ness  of  scenery,  for  softness  and  evenness  of  climate, 
she  would  be  equalled  by  few  and  surpassed  by  none 
of  the  cities  of  the  known  world. 

So  the  projectors  of  this  grand  enterprise  talked ;  so 
their  advertisements  read ;  so  some  of  them  honestly 
believed. 

The  climate  of  Southern  California  is  unsurpassed 
by  any  in  the  world,  while  that  of  the  two  sister 
counties  of  Ventura  and  Santa  Barbara  has  been  pro 
nounced  by  competent  authorities,  whose  judgment 
may  be  received  with  implicit  confidence,  to  be,  in 
many  ways,  even  superior  to  that  of  the  world-famed 
Riviera.  Since  this  southern  country  had,  as  was 
universally  conceded,  a  brilliant  future  before  it,  why 
should  not  this  new  city  of  Oakdale,  in  a  very  few 
years,  rival  either  Nice  or  Mentone  ? 

It  never  dawned  upon  even  the  shrewdest,  keenest, 
and  most  far-sighted  of  these  speculators,  in  the  excite 
ment  of  his  real-estate  frenzy,  to  stop  long  enough  to 
ascertain  if  there  was  any  reason  that  a  city  should 
grow  up  where  they  had  located  this  new  town  site ;  it 
had  never  dawned  upon  the  sharpest  of  them  all  to 
look  deep  enough  into  the  matter  to  see  that  the  in 
terests  of  commerce  and  the  trend  of  population  gave 
every  reason  why  a  town  should  not  grow  up  there,  at 
least  for  many  long  years  to  come. 

The  shrill  whistle  of  an  incoming  train  told  the 
listening  crowds  that  the  "  Special"  from  San  Francisco 
and  Los  Angeles  had  now  arrived,  thronged  with  pas 
sengers  who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  less  than  half 
rates  offered  them  to  come  down  for  an  excursion  and 

10 


HO  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

see  the  sights,  while  the  Oakdale  speculators,  who  had 
chartered  the  train,  devoutly  hoped  that  they  would  all 
invest. 

As  the  train  whistled  into  the  station,  Warren 
crossed  Main  Street  towards  the  corner  of  Palm,  mak 
ing  his  way  to  the  Anacapa.  He  found  Mollie  in  the 
ladies'  waiting-room  endeavoring  to  read  the  morning 
paper,  but  too  profoundly  interested  in  the  crowds 
coming  and  going  through  the  street  to  maintain  any 
sustained  interest  either  in  the  "local"  or  the  "tele 
graphic"  columns.  She  rose  as  Warren  entered  the 
door  of  the  hotel,  and,  laying  aside  her  paper,  stood 
waiting  for  him,  welcoming  him  as  he  came  towards 
her  with  a  cordial  and  friendly  smile. 

"  We  must  be  on  our  way  at  once,  Miss  Wade ; 
the  sale  begins  at  ten  o'clock,  and  it  is  already  past 
nine/7  Warren  said,  as  he  waited  to  escort  her  to  her 
horse. 

"  I  have  been  ready  for  some  time.  I  am  not  the 
delinquent ;  and  for  once  in  your  life  you  cannot  say, 
'  These  women  !  they  are  forever  behind  time  !'  I  have 
been  waiting  for  you  ever  since  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mitchell 
went  to  the  train,  and  that  is  a  good  half-hour,"  Mollie 
answered,  as  he  assisted  her  to  mount. 

"  I  acquit  you  of  all  blame ;  I  am  the  culprit,  but  I 
assure  you  that  I  am  an  innocent  one.  Those  maps 
must  be  got  off,  and  I  had  it  to  do.  As  I  was  going 
to  ride  and  could  not  take  them,  I  had  to  carry  them 
to  the  train,  find  a  trustworthy  messenger,  and  despatch 
them  by  him,  and  all  this  took  time  and  delayed  me," 
Warren  answered,  taking  his  place  at  her  side. 

Side  by  side  they  went  down  the  street  on  a  smart 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

trot,  not  breaking  their  pace  as  they  went  up  a  short 
rise,  then  out  into  the  open  country. 

"  Do  you  know,"  Mollie  said,  as  they  lessened  their 
speed  sufficiently  to  make  conversation  possible, — "  do 
you  know  that  in  many  ways  you  remind  me  of  my 
brother  Tom  ?" 

"As  the  gentleman  you  have  named  is  so  near  a 
kinsman  of  your  own,  I  should,  other  things  permit 
ting  me,  take  this  speech  as  conveying  the  highest 
compliment  you  could  pay  me.  But,  judging  from 
the  tone  of  your  voice  and  the  expression  of  your  face, 
I  feel  a  haunting  dread  that  you  do  not  mean  it  as  such, 
and  I  am  burdened  with  a  distressing  apprehension  that 
he  is  far  from  an  amiable  person/7  Warren  replied. 

"  Oh,  you  are  altogether  wrong,"  Mollie  hastily  re 
joined.  "  Tom  is  one  of  the  best  and  loveliest  men 
that  ever  lived ;  but  he  is  always  making  appoint 
ments  at  which  he  is  invariably  late,  and  then  he  is  in 
a  terrible  hurry  to  make  up  the  lost  time." 

"  Your  experience  leads  you  to  think  that  this  is  the 
most  strongly-marked  trait  in  my  character  ?"  Warren 
asked. 

"I  would  not  say  that,  but  I  think  it  is  a  very 
striking  trait ;  I  cannot  remember  that  you  were  ever 
yet  on  time  at  any  appointment  you  have  made  with 
me,"  she  replied. 

"  This  is  a  very  serious  charge,  Miss  Mollie,"  Warren 
answered,  pretending  to  look  very  grave.  "  I  am  sorry, 
deeply  and  truly  sorry,  for  the  inconvenience  I  have 
caused  you  by  always  being  a  little  behind  time,  and 
then  hurrying  you  in  order  to  make  amends  for  my 
own  unpunctuality." 


112  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"  Oh,  I  did  not  say  that,  either,"  Mollie  answered, 
blushing  slightly  at  his  wilful  misinterpretation  of  her 
words.  "  I  did  not  say  at  all  that  you  resemble  my 
brother  in  that ;  on  the  contrary,  you  always  seem  to 
have  time  enough  and  to  spare,  no  matter  how  late 
you  may  be.  Until  this  morning  I  never  knew  you 
to  say  that  you  could  be  a  loser  on  account  of  lost 
time." 

"  I  act  on  a  principle  laid  down  by  my  old  rector  at 
home,"  Warren  replied,  as  he  reined  his  horse  closer  to 
that  of  his  companion.  "  I  remember  on  one  occasion, 
while  he  was  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  certain  parties 
who  were  to  meet  him  at  an  appointment  to  which  I 
had  accompanied  him,  after  a  half-hour  had  passed  by, 
and  still  there  were  no  signs  of  their  coming,  he  turned 
to  me,  saying,  '  I  have  made  one  serious  mistake  in  my 
life  by  always  being  punctual.  The  amount  of  time  I 
have  thrown  away  during  my  lifetime  by  always 
making  it  a  point  to  be  punctual  myself  is  simply  ap 
palling.  Had  I  my  life  to  live  over  again,  this  is  the 
first  of  my  great  mistakes  that  I  would  rectify.'  ' 

Mollie  laughed  heartily  at  this  frank  confession  of 
delinquency  as  a  moral  principle. 

"  So  you  are  trying  to  avoid  the  good  rector's  fatal 
error  ?"  she  asked. 

"  That  is  my  idea,"  Warren  answered. 

"  Do  you  think  it  a  good  business  maxim  ?" 

"  Certainly  ;  just  think  of  the  facts  for  a  minute. 
By  being  from  five  to  ten  minutes  late  every  day  I 
save,  taking  the  lowest  estimate  for  a  basis  of  calcula 
tion,  at  least  half  an  hour  every  week.  Now  take  that 
saving  for  fifty-two  weeks,  even  if  we  reckon  my  time 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  H3 

as  worth  no  more  than  a  day  laborer's,  you  see  I  mal£e 
a  handsome  percentage  for  myself  every  year,  and  one 
well  worth  looking  after." 

Again  Mollie's  merry  laugh  rang  out,  the  sweetest 
of  music  to  Warren's  ear. 

"  That  way  of  looking  upon  unpunctuality  and  re 
ducing  it  to  an  exact  science  is  novel  to  me,  I  confess/7 
she  replied.  "  I  will  recommend  it  to  Tom,  and  per 
haps  he  will  be  wise  enough  to  profit  by  your  sugges 
tion  and  turn  what  I  have  always  before  looked  upon 
as  a  serious  vice  into  one  of  the  brightest  of  virtues." 

They  had  now  come  to  a  point  where  the  road  turned 
off,  winding  back  among  the  hills  into  a  quiet  sheltered 
nook  formed  by  a  bend  in  the  mountain  range.  On 
one  side  lay  the  ocean,  its  waters  sparkling  like  crystals 
in  the  sunlight ;  on  the  other  were  the  hills,  stretching 
away  to  the  Sierra  Madre  Mountains,  whose  peaks 
towered  up  against  the  blue  line  of  the  sky  in  the 
remoter  distance.  Towards  this  pretty  nook  the  vast 
concourse  of  people,  coming  by  different  roads,  was 
gathering  as  a  common  centre,  while  distant  scarcely 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below  stood  the  train 
from  Ventura  and  the  "  Special,"  each  discharging  its 
passengers,  who  were  wending  their  way  up  the  slope 
to  this  same  point. 

"  There  is  our  destination,"  said  Warren.  "  Let  us 
tie  our  horses  here  and  wait  for  Mitchell  and  your 
sister ;  they  will  be  up  here  in  a  few  moments  now." 

Dismounting  himself  and  assisting  Mollie  to  alight, 
he  fastened  their  horses  to  a  live-oak,  while  they  mean 
time  stood  waiting  for  their  friends  to  join  them,  silently 
drinking  in  the  beautiful  scenery  the  while.  Mollie 
h  10* 


114  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

found  enough  to  interest  her,  for  the  scene  was  a  novel 
one  to  her  Eastern  ideas. 

The  Oakdale  tract,  comprising  several  hundred  acres, 
had  been  surveyed  and  laid  out  into  streets  and  avenues 
crossing  each  other  at  right  angles,  and  dividing  the 
town  site  into  blocks  of  equal  size,  while  each  block, 
in  its  turn,  had  been  subdivided  into  lots.  At  the 
intersection  of  these  streets  were  posts  bearing  the 
name  of  each  intersecting  street,  while  smaller  posts, 
each  bearing  a  letter  and  a  number,  marked  the 
boundary  of  each  lot. 

Near  the  centre  of  the  town  site  was  a  large  depres 
sion  of  nearly  an  acre  in  extent,  called  in  the  Cali 
fornia  terminology  a  "dry  lake."  This,  during  the 
rains,  received  the  drainage  of  the  surrounding  hills 
and  was  filled  with  water,  but  during  the  long  rainless 
summer  it  was  wholly  dry.  Already  the  water  was 
almost  gone  from  it,  and  its  bed  was  fast  becoming 
transformed  into  a  marshy  pool  overgrown  with  rushes 
and  rank  grass. 

Beyond  this  dry  lake  rose  a  low  round  hill,  stand 
ing  isolated  and  alone  between  the  lake-bed  and  the 
foot-hills,  its  summit  crowned  with  a  thick  growth  of 
oaks,  while  the  whole  town  site  was  laid  out  in  a  dense 
grove  of  oak-trees  which  had  only  been  partially 
cleared  away,  and  which  covered  the  sides  of  the  hills 
and  the  cosey  nook  nestling  between  them,  making  the 
name  Oakdale  at  once  appropriate  and  suggestive. 

In  the  centre  of  the  town  site  and  on  the  margin  of 
the  dry  lake  a  stand  had  been  erected  covered  with  a 
canopy  of  red-white-and-blue  cloth,  and  decorated  with 
flags ;  while  its  framework  was  wholly  concealed  with 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  H5 

bunting.  On  this  stand  was  a  table  the  top  of  which 
was  covered  with  maps ;  behind  it  the  auctioneer  was 
sitting,  while  back  of  him  benches  were  placed,  on 
which  the  band  was  seated  vigorously  playing  patriotic 
airs. 

Underneath  the  oak-trees,  and  at  some  distance  from 
the  band,  were  tables  laden  with  meats  and  fruits,  the 
lunch  provided  by  the  Oakdale  company  for  all  who 
attended  the  sale. 

Mollie  was  profoundly  interested,  almost  absorbed, 
by  the  lively  picture  presented  in  this,  to  her,  unusual 
sight.  Every  class  of  men  and  women  was  repre 
sented,  from  the  keen-eyed,  sharp-faced  speculator, 
watching  for  a  good  investment,  to  the  tourists,  at 
tracted  by  the  novelty  of  the  scene.  Here,  the  repre 
sentative  of  some  rival  land  company,  with  sneering 
face,  was  walking  arm  in  arm  with  some  would-be 
investor,  to  whom  he  was  pointing  out  industriously  the 
wild  folly  of  trying  to  plant  a  town  in  such  a  location, 
and  proving  to  him  that  in  its  very  arrangements  the 
evidence  of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  its  projectors  could 
be  clearly  seen  by  any  one  who  would  only  take  the 
trouble  to  look  carefully  into  the  matter.  There,  the 
inevitable  tramp  was  sitting  under  the  trees  near  the 
tables,  hungrily  waiting  for  the  call  to  lunch,  and  per 
fectly  willing  to  take  his  land  wherever  he  might  find 
it,  and  his  climate  by  the  wholesale  under  porches  and 
sheds,  and  in  open  box-cars;  while  walking  around 
under  the  trees  were  many  young  couples  with  no 
thought  at  all  beyond  a  holiday  passed  in  the  society 
of  one  another. 

"  What  do  you  think  of  the  scene  ?"  Warren  asked, 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

studying  intently  the  varying  expressions  passing  over 
Mollie's  bright  face. 

"It  is  profoundly  interesting,"  she  answered.  "It 
is  a  scene  of  even  absorbing  interest  to  me,  for  I  have 
never  seen  anything  at  all  like  it  before.  It  seems  to 
me,  though,  to  be  more  like  a  public  celebration  than 
like  an  auction  sale." 

Warren  smiled  as  he  answered, — 

"  I  never  thought  of  that  before,  and  I  don't  know 
but  that  is  the  way  in  which  we  ought  to  regard  the 
sale.  A  land  auction  means  the  building  up  of  this 
finest  section  of  the  country,  does  it  not?  so,  by  a 
happy  inspiration,  we  have  introduced  the  band  and  the 
free  lunch,  and  have  by  an  opportune  blunder  brought 
in  features  which  have  a  propriety  in  themselves." 

"  Yes,"  Mollie  returned,  in  the  quaint  tone  peculiar 
to  her,  which  always  amused  Warren  while  it  also 
produced  in  him  the  uneasy  feeling  that  he  was  being 
laughed  at;  "the  California  land  sales  combine  the 
essential  elements  of  a  picnic,  Thanksgiving,  and  the 
Fourth  of  July." 

"  They  are  something  after  that  order,"  he  answered, 
and  then  added,  "  Here  come  our  friends  !  Let  us  go 
and  meet  them,  and  then  I  will  explain  a  few  of  the 
ideas  of  our  company  before  the  sale  begins." 

"  Gracious,  I'm  dead  beat  out !  Why  did  you  not 
put  your  town  a  little  nearer  to  the  railroad,  or  else 
bring  the  railroad  a  trifle  nearer  to  your  town?" 
Mitchell  gasped,  as  he  came  puffing  up  the  slope  and 
threw  himself  down  under  the  shade  of  the  nearest  oak. 

"  If  you  will  observe,  you  will  see  that  the  road  up 
which  you  have  just  come  is  a  broad  avenue,  running 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  H7 

through  the  town  from  the  railroad  station  on  its  south 
side  to  its  northern  limit ;  this  avenue  will  be  bordered 
with  palms  and  magnolias,  and  a  cable  road  will  run 
through  it,"  Warren  answered. 

"  Well,"  Mitchell  retorted,  "  it's  ten  thousand  pities 
that  the  cable  road  was  not  built  before  the  boom  struck 
you.  I  never  was  so  blown  in  my  life." 

"  Everything  in  due  season.  Are  you  too  tired  to 
listen  to  our  plans  ?  I  have  ten  minutes  in  which  to 
explain  our  ideas  to  you  before  the  sale  is  called," 
Warren  answered. 

"  Go  on ;  I'm  all  ears,"  was  Mitchell's  reply. 

"  Yes,  that's  a  family  characteristic,  I  believe," 
Warren  answered ;  then,  without  waiting  for  his  friend 
to  recover  sufficient  breath  to  return  a  Roland  for  his 
Oliver,  he  began  his  explanations. 

"  You  notice  the  dry  lake  and  the  little  round  hill 
just  beyond  it?  We  propose  to  reserve  these  with 
sufficient  land  around  them  to  make  a  handsome  park. 
The  hill  we  shall  clear  off  and  build  a  reservoir  upon 
its  summit,  bringing  the  water  from  some  streams  a 
number  of  miles  back  in  the  mountains.  Then  we 
shall  terrace  the  side  of  the  hill  towards  the  lake,  and 
coat  these  terraces  with  bituminous  rock ;  then  we  shall 
turn  the  water  down  this  terraced  fall  into  the  lake, 
keeping  it  always  full  and  also  making  a  picturesque 
cascade.  We  shall  stock  the  lake  with  fish,  and  we  shall 
also  import  swans  and  put  them  upon  it.  The  hill 
itself  will  also  be  handsomely  laid  out,  while  we  pro 
pose  to  place  around  the  reservoir  some  specimens  of  as 
handsome  statuary  as  can  be  found  anywhere  in  the 
State.  The  streets  around  the  park,  or  circles,  as  you 


118  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

will  notice  that  we  call  them,  are  to  be  reserved  for 
residences  which  are  not  to  cost  less  than  a  certain 
specified  sum." 

"  That's  a  grand  idea,  and  it  will  make  one  of  the 
finest  towns  to  be  found  anywhere  in  the  world,  if  you 
can  carry  the  scheme  through  ;  but  have  you  counted 
the  cost?"  Mitchell  replied. 

Warren  cast  upon  his  sceptical  friend  a  glance  of  the 
intensest  disgust  as  he  answered, — 

"Of  course  we  have.  I  can  assure  you,  for  your 
comfort,  that  we  shall  have  more  than  enough  money 
to  successfully  complete  all  that  we  have  planned  after 
this  sale  is  over  and  our  ideas  have  become  widely  and 
thoroughly  known." 

Further  conversation,  either  in  the  way  of  explana 
tion  or  of  discussion,  was  now  prevented  by  the  auc 
tioneer,  who  glanced  at  his  watch,  rose  from  his  chair, 
and,  pounding  with  his  mallet  on  the  table  before  him, 
began  his  opening  address  in  the  following  words : 

"  Ladies  and  gents,  it  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure 
to  see  so  goodly  an  attendance  at  this  sale,  and  I  am 
especially  pleased  to  learn  that  so  many  of  you  are 
strangers. 

"California  is,  at  last,  becoming  known.  People 
are  at  last  waking  up  to  the  fact  that  there  is  a  part 
of  these  great  United  States  where  snow  never  is  seen, 
off  the  tops  of  the  highest  mountains ;  where  frost  is 
unknown;  where  the  tenderest  flowers  are  always  in 
blossom  in  the  open  air,  and  where  strawberries  ripen 
in  the  gardens  twelve  months  in  every  year.  The 
Easterners  are  now  just  beginning  to  realize  all  this, 
and  to  find  out  that  by  coming  here  they  can  get  away 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

from  their  snow-drifts  and  blizzards,  and  find  a  spot 
where  they  can,  for  once  in  their  lives,  get  thoroughly 
thawed  out.  Farmers,  also,  are  finding  out  that  instead 
of  working  in  a  barren  rock-patch  from  four  o'clock 
in  the  morning  until  sunset,  then  lighting  up  their 
lanterns  to  go  out  and  finish  their  day's  work  by 
lamp-light,  and  working  like  this  from  youth  to  hoary 
age  in  order  to  get  enough  together  to  die  in  the  poor- 
house,  they  are  beginning  to  wake  up  to  the  fact  that 
they  can  come  here  and  find  rich  soil,  take  life  easy, 
and  let  kind  Mother  Nature  do  their  farming,  while 
they  get  rich  in  the  operation. 

"  Now,  it  is  this  general  waking  up  to  the  fact  that 
a  new  Garden  of  Eden  exists  right  here,  in  Southern 
California,  that  makes  such  projects  as  this  sale  of  to 
day  necessary.  It  has  taken  the  East  a  long  time  to 
wake  up.  Their  long,  hard  winters  make  them  sleepy, 
just  as  it  does  their  bears  and  their  woodchucks ;  but 
now  that  they  have  begun  to  open  their  eyes,  they  are 
coming  out  here  with  a  rush,  and  they  pick  up  our 
new  towns  faster  than  we  can  lay  them  out. 

"  And  of  all  the  new  towns  that  it  has  ever  been  my 
happy  fortune  to  place  before  the  public,  it  has  never 
been  my  lot  to  offer  any  in  so  fine  a  location,  with  so 
equable  a  climate,  and  with  so  well-projected  a  survey, 
as  you  now  see  in  this  lovely  nook  which  I  am  offer 
ing  to  you  this  morning,  known  as  the  new  city  of 
Oakdale." 

He  then  proceeded  to  describe  the  ideas  of  the  com 
pany  as  Warren  had  already  explained  them  to  his 
friends,  and  then  closed  his  harangue  by  stating  the 
terms  of  the  sale,  which  were  the  customary  one-third 


120  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

cash  before  sunset,  one-third  in  nine  months,  and  the 
balance  in  one  year,  at  ten  per  cent. 

Maps  were  then  distributed  to  all  who  were  present 
at  the  sale,  showing  the  town  site  with  its  division  into 
streets  and  town  lots ;  and  as  each  block  on  the  map 
was  lettered,  while  each  lot  was  numbered,  correspond 
ing  to  the  letters  and  numbers  on  the  posts,  a  glance  at 
the  map  gave  each  person  an  accurate  idea  of  the  plan 
of  the  projected  town,  making  it  possible  for  those 
desiring  to  purchase  to  choose  with  perfect  accuracy 
the  sites  and  locations  which  seemed  to  them  the  most 
eligible ;  while  to  further  aid  investors  in  reaching  a 
decision  as  to  where  they  would  prefer  to  place  their 
investments,  a  man  bearing  a  flag  upon  a  pole  went 
from  street  to  street,  stationing  himself  upon  each  lot 
as  it  was  put  up  for  sale,  making  it  possible  for  the 
bidders  to  see  exactly  how  it  lay  in  its  exposure,  the 
scenery  it  commanded  in  its  outlook,  and  also — and 
this  is  an  important  item  in  estimating  the  value  of 
land  where  the  difference  between  sunlight  and  shade 
is  so  strongly  marked  as  it  is  in  the  semi-tropical  cli 
mate  of  Southern  California — whether  or  not  it  was  so 
situated  that  it  would  receive  a  fair  amount  of  sunshine. 

The  preliminaries  being  now  all  arranged,  the  auc 
tioneer  issued  a  command  to  the  standard-bearer  of  the 
sale,  who  forthwith  moved  off  in  obedience  to  orders, 
and  placed  himself  on  the  lot  to  be  first  offered  to 
bidders. 

The  auctioneer  at  once  called  for  bids,  crying  at  the 
top  of  very  powerful  lungs, — 

"  Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  offer  to  you,  as  you 
see,  Lot  No.  1,  in  Block  A,  of  the  town  of  Oakdale, 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

county  of  Ventura,  State  of  California.  This  is  only 
another  way  of  telling  you  that  I  am  offering  you  a  lot 
in  a  town  situated  in  the  finest  county  of  the  West  and 
the  grandest  State  in  the  Union.  Where  can  you  find 
such  another  climate  as  we  are  blessed  with  in  all  the 
world  ?  Where  can  you  show  me  so  fertile  a  soil  as 
that  of  this  Santa  Clara  Valley  of  the  South?  You 
have  all  of  you  been  spending  the  winter  in  California, 
and  you  know  for  yourselves  that  I  am  telling  you  the 
plain,  unvarnished  truth,  and  that  I  don't  say  anything 
but  hard,  solid  facts.  In  all  the  world  you  can't  find 
such  another  country  as  this.  No  colds,  no  coughs,  no 
consumption,  no  hay-fevers,  no  catarrhs,  no  malaria. 
Why,  bless  you,  these  facts  do  all  the  talking  for  them- 
selves ;  I  don't  need  to  say  anything,  and  I  ain't  a-going 
to.  Now,  I  stand  here  offering  you  all  a  chance  to  own 
a  home  in  this  vale  of  Paradise,  where  you  can  sling 
a  hammock  under  your  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  and 
swing  in  its  easy  embrace  all  the  year  round ;  while 
you  can  gaze  off  over  the  limpid  waters  of  the  Pacific, 
sparkling  like  diamonds  in  the  sunlight,  your  brows 
fanned  the  while  by  the  soft  ocean-breezes,  or  kissed 
by  the  gentle  zephyrs  from  the  mountains,  whose  sweet 
breath  comes  to  you  laden  with  the  perfume  of  myriads 
of  flowers. 

"  Now  think  this  over,  and  tell  me,  in  your  bids, 
what  you  offer  for  this  first  lot  ever  put  on  sale  in  this 
new  town,  which  I  predict  will,  inside  of  ten  years, 
rival  Nice  or  Mentone  in  the  Old  World ;  tell  me  what 
this  prospect  of  peace,  health,  wealth,  and  happiness  is 
worth  to  you." 

The  auctioneer  paused  to  catch  his  breath  and  waited 

F  11 


122  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

for  the  first  bid,  eagerly  scanning  the  faces  before  him, 
his  own  countenance  alert  with  shrewd  humor. 

The  agent  of  the  rival  company  was  standing  directly 
in  front  of  him,  his  face  twisted  into  an  expression  of 
the  deepest  scorn,  both  for  the  auctioneer's  eloquence, 
for  the  town  site,  and  for  the  whole  proceedings. 

The  bid  was  not  forthcoming,  and  the  auctioneer 
again  found  it  necessary  to  add  an  incentive  to  the  zeal 
of  those  before  him. 

"What  am  I  offered  for  this  lot,  located,  as  your 
own  eyes  tell  you,  on  the  Pacific  Circle,  right  across 
Pacific  Avenue,  the  main  avenue  where  the  cable  cars 
will  run,  and  facing  the  Park  ?  No  house  can  ever  be 
put  up  in  front  of  you ;  your  outlook  will  always  be 
upon  one  of  the  prettiest  parks  any  city  in  the  country 
can  boast  of;  while  over  and  above  all  this,  you  have 
an  unobstructed  view  out  over  the  ocean.  Now,  what 
do  you  offer  me  for  this  lot,  one  hundred  by  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  remember?" 

"  Two  dollars  and  six  bits  !"  The  bid  was  made  by 
the  agent  of  the  rival  company,  and  he  threw  into  the 
tones  in  which  he  made  it  all  the  bitterness  of  his  soul. 
Every  one  in  his  vicinity  turned  and  looked  at  him  in 
blank  amazement;  while  those  who  were  out  of  his 
immediate  neighborhood  stood  on  tiptoe,  craning  their 
necks  in  order  to  see  who  it  was  who  had  made  so  un 
precedented  a  bid. 

The  auctioneer  at  first  started  back  in  surprise ; 
then,  thinking  that  he  might  have  misunderstood  the 
offer,  he  said,  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir ;  what  was  your 
bid?" 

"I  said  two  dollars  and  six  bits,  and  I  stand  by  it. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  123 

As  an  investment  the  lot  is  worthless ;  but  I  think  the 
wood  on  it  may  be  worth  the  money/'  snarled  the  rival 
of  the  Oakdale  Land  and  Water  Company.  • 

Glenn,  who,  like  Chaucer's  Reeve,  was  a  "slender, 
choleric  man,"  started  forward,  burning  with  fury,  in 
tending  to  inflict  some  serious  bodily  injury  upon  this 
base-spirited  emissary  who  had  come  up,  like  Satan  in 
the  mediaeval  legends,  from  some  dry  and  desert  spot 
to  work  mischief  in  this  fair  garden  of  beauty.  War 
ren  was,  fortunately,  standing  close  beside  him,  and, 
placing  his  hand  upon  his  partner's  arm,  he  urged  him 
to  be  silent  and  control  himself,  for  the  auctioneer  was 
a  man  whom  they  could  safely  trust  to  bring  ridicule 
upon  the  enemy ;  and  this  was  the  only  weapon  with 
which  they  could  hope  to  defeat  him  and  save  them 
selves  from  the  ruinous  loss  which  now  threatened 
them. 

Glenn  clinched  his  fists  and  stood  stamping  his  foot 
in  impotent  fury.  If  this  malicious  bid  should  create 
suspicion  of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  the  company  and 
stampede  the  possible  purchasers,  all  the  expenses 
which  the  company  had  incurred  up  to  this  time  would 
prove  money  thrown  away,  while  the  expenses  of  to 
day's  sale  would  also  be  additional  loss^  Disaster  stared 
them,  one  and  all,  in  the  face ;  but  a  fist-fight  would 
not  mend  matters  in  the  least.  Glenn  himself  saw 
that  there  was  nothing  for  it  but  patience ;  so,  with 
grated  teeth  ai*d  clinched  fists,  he  stood  glaring  with 
angry  eyes  upon  the  calm,  sneering  face  of  his  rival. 

A  California  land  auctioneer  is  a  man  of  ready  wit 
and  brazen  assurance,  while  he  is  also  fertile  in  expe 
dients  ;  it  is  at  any  time  hard  to  catch  him  unprepared 


124  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

with  an  answer,  and  this  man  was  worthy  of  all  War 
ren's  confidence  in  him.  Seeing  the  state  of  the  case 
at  a  glance;  and  seeing,  also,  from  the  countenances 
before  him  that  all  his  eloquence,  past  as  well  as  to 
come,  was  hopelessly  thrown  away  if  he  could  not 
create  a  diversion  in  his  own  favor,  he  replied,  without 
an  instant's  hesitation, — 

"  Thank  you,  thank  you,  sir  !  Ladies  and  gentlemen, 
you  see  standing  here  before  you  a  poor,  forlorn, 
broken-winded,  shattered  wreck  from  Kansas.  I  can 
tell  that  he  comes  here  from  Kansas  by  his  thin,  gaunt 
form,  his  haggard  features,  and  his  pinched  nose. 
Half  starved  from  living  on  a  soil  that  can  produce 
nothing  better  than  rattlesnakes,  his  health  broken 
down  by  blizzards,  and  his  bank  account  busted  by 
bad  crops  in  the  off  years  and  grasshoppers  in  the  on 
ones,  he  has  wandered  over  here  to  buy  a  home  and 
mend  his  fortunes.  He  says  that  he's  only  got  two 
dollars  and  six  bits  left,  all  that  his  folly  in  not  coming 
to  California  in  the  first  place  has  spared  him  out  of  a 
handsome  fortune.  He  offers  it  all — all  he  has  got  in 
the  world — for  a  home  in  Southern  California.  Don't 
outbid  him  !  Don't,  I  beg  of  you,  ladies  and  gentle 
men  !  And  I  declare  this  lot  sold,  as  an  act  of  charity, 
to  our  bankrupt,  broken-winded,  deplorable  friend 
from  Kansas,  and  take  my  word  for  it,  sir,  you  won't 
have  to  wait  long  for  mended  fortunes.  What  name, 
please?" 

The  listeners  roared,  even  the  irate  Glenn  suffered 
his  features  to  relax  into  a  frosty  smile,  while  the  dis 
concerted  emissary  of  a  subtile  foe  slunk  back  out  of 
sight,  lost  himself  in  the  crowd,  and  was  seen  no  more. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  125 

"  Ah  !"  the  auctioneer  exclaimed,  "  our  deplorable 
friend  tells  me  that  on  searching  his  pockets  he  cannot 
make  good  his  bid  and  he  asks  the  privilege  of  forfeit 
ing  his  purchase.  So  I  declare  that  sale  off,  and  again 
call  for  your  bids. 

"  What  am  I  offered  for  this  lot,  big  enough  for  you 
to  put  a  mansion  on  it,  and  then  have  grounds  enough 
left  for  a  stable  in  the  rear  and  handsome  lawns? 
What  am  I  offered  ?  Start  it,  some  one  !" 

After  some  spirited  bidding  the  lot  was  knocked 
down  for  five  hundred  dollars,  and  the  standard-bearer 
was  sent  to  a  lot  on  the  slope  of  the  hills,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  auctioneer's  stand. 

Again  he  called  for  bids. 

"  Here  you  have  a  lot,  not  quite  so  large  as  the  last, 
but  a  good-sized  lot,  though,  one  hundred  by  one  hun 
dred  and  sixty  feet,  on  the  corner  of  Santa  Clara  and 
Ramona  Streets,  southern  exposure,  and  having  the 
glare  of  the  sun  tempered  by  pepper-  and  erysipelas- 
trees  already  set  out  by  the  company.  What  am  I 
offered?" 

It  is  to  be  supposed  that  by  the  last-named  botanical 
marvel  he  referred  to  some  small  eucalyptus-trees 
which  the  company  had  recently  planted;  but  as  he 
did  not  further  explain  his  meaning,  no  one  ever  cer 
tainly  knew. 

This  lot  started  very  well, — one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  dollars  were  immediately  offered.  This  was  at  once 
raised  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  dollars  by  another  bid 
der  ;  who,  in  his  turn,  was  also  outbid  by  five  dollars. 

The  auctioneer  was  delighted.  "That's  it,  gentle 
men,"  he  cried,  striking  his  hands  together.  "Now 

11* 


126  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

youVe  got  hold  of  the  idea  of  how  these  sales  ought 
to  be  conducted.  It's  going  to  just  boom  here  by  and 
by.  Eighty-five — eighty-five — eighty-five — eighty- 
five  I'm  offered. — Ninety — will — you — make  —  it  ? 
Eighty-five — eighty-five — eighty-five — who'll —  go — 
the— ninety  ?" 

Looking  at  a  group  of  men  standing  in  front  of  him 
and  a  little  apart  by  themselves,  busily  talking  together, 
he  called  out,  "  Here,  you  fellows  over  there,  don't  talk 
to  one  another ;  talk  to  me.  Just  tip  me  a  wink ;  I  can 
hear  that  ten  blocks  off.  Eighty-five — eighty-five — 
eighty-five. — Ninety — will — you — have — it  ?  Thank 
you,"  in  reply  to  a  bid  to  that  amount. 

"  Now,  see  here  !  Here  you  stand  like  a  group  of 
graven  images,  and  you  are  letting  lots  be  bid  off 
for  one  hundred  and  ninety  dollars  that  you'll  pay  one 
thousand  dollars  for,  and  think  that  you've  got  'em 
cheap  at  that  figure,  in  six  months  from  now,  after  the 
station  is  built  and  the  population  comes  streaming  in 
here  in  great  volumes,  like  the  falls  of  the  Yosemite 
when  the  snow  is  melting  on  the  mountains. 

"  Going  at  ninety — at  ninety — at  ninety — at  ninety 
— at  ninety. — Ninety-five — will — you — make — it  ? 
I'm  looking  right  straight  at  you  fellows  over  there, 
and  some  of  you  are  going  to  get  killed  when  this 
bargain  goes  off  and  hits  you." 

After  some  further  spirited  bidding,  which,  however, 
did  not  get  out  of  small  figures,  the  lot  was  knocked 
down  to  a  graceful,  handsomely-dressed  woman  for 
three  hundred  and  thirty-five  dollars, — a  woman  who, 
already  possessed  of  wealth  and  of  high  social  standing, 
like  many  another  of  the  fair  sex  in  California,  was 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  127 

afflicted  with  the  land-craze  in  as  acute  a  form  as  any 
real-estate  agent  in  the  country. 

The  man  with  the  flag  was  now  sent  to  wave  his 
standard  in  a  street  a  little  to  one  side  of  what  was 
marked  on  the  map  as  intended  to  be  the  business 
section  of  the  town,  and  the  auctioneer  began  his  ad 
dress  by  an  explanation,  which  he  made  in  the  following 
words : 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  am  now  offering  you  a 
lot  which  I  do  not  think  is  a  very  desirable  one.  The 
Oakdale  Company  proposes  to  put  up  on  the  lot  right 
across  the  street  from  this,  which  they  have  reserved, 
a  school-house  to  cost  thirty-five  thousand  dollars. 
Although  the  lot  is  only  three  and  a  half  blocks  from 
Pacific  Avenue  and  the  cable  road,  this  lot  is  too  near 
the  school-house  for  me,  and  I  wouldn't  have  it.  I'm 
an  old  bachelor,  though,  so  I  suppose  you  ladies  think 
my  opinion  ain't  worth  much,  and  I  suppose  you're 
right ;  and  you  married  men  who  have  walked  the 
floor  night  after  night  with  crying  babies  also  look  at 
the  matter  in  a  different  light  from  what  I  do;  so, 
what'll  you  give  me  to  start  this  lot  right  across  the 
street  from  the  new  thirty-five-thousand-dollar-school- 
house  ?  You  start  it  at  some  figure :  you  young  man 
with  a  straw  hat  and  blond  moustache,  I  mean.  Give 
us  a  bid,  won't  you  ?" 

The  designated  individual  blushed  modestly,  looked 
sheepish,  and  offered  seventy-five  dollars. 

"  I  am  offered  seventy-five  dollars  for  a  lot  seventy- 
five  by  one  hundred !  One  dollar  a  front  foot  I  am 
offered  for  this  lot !"  the  auctioneer  cried,  throwing 
the  deepest  scorn  into  his  tones. 


128  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

"That  young  man  is  also  a  bachelor,  that's  very 
evident.  Will  some  married  man  raise  ?" 

After  a  pause,  and  a  moment  of  deep  silence  :  "  Will 
anybody  raise  him  ?" 

Another  pause ;  still  silence  reigned. 

"  Isn't  there  even  one  married  man  in  all  this  crowd  ?" 

Another  pause,  during  which  the  modest  young  bidder 
drew  back  in  the  hope  of  concealing  his  burning  blushes 
in  the  crowd.  The  auctioneer  leaned  over,  scanning  the 
faces  before  him,  and  cried, — 

"  Isn't  there  a  married  woman  here  to  raise  that  bid  ?" 

Again  he  paused,  then  cried,  with  a  face  expressing 
the  intensest  anxiety, — 

"  Haven't  we  got  a  parson  here  who  will  marry  off 
some  of  these  people  so  that  we  can  find  somebody  to 
sell  this  lot  opposite  the  school-house  to  ?" 

A  snicker  went  the  rounds  of  the  crowd,  and  a  voice 
from  the  outskirts  offered  one  hundred  dollars  for  the  lot. 

"  Ah  !"  the  auctioneer  exclaimed,  heaving  a  sigh  of 
profound  relief,  while  his  face  showed  that  once  more 
life  possessed  charms  for  him.  "  The  fire  has  broken 
out  in  another  part  of  the  city ;  now  you'll  see  business 
done  !  One  hundred  dollars  I  am  offered  for  this  lot 
in  the  fashionable  quarter  of  this  city ;  one  hundred 
and  one,  will  you  make  it?  Why,  bless  your  dear 
hearts  and  stupid  heads,  this  land  is  rising  in  value 
every  minute  while  you  stand  there  cogitating  whether 
or  not  you  dare  invest.  Don't  stand  staring  one  an 
other  in  the  face  !  Walk  right  up  here  and  make  your 
offers  like  little  gentlemen  !  The  ladies,  too,  bless  your 
pretty  faces !  We  want  you  all  here.  We  want  you 
for  citizens.  One  hundred  I  am  offered  for  this  choice 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  129 

lot.  Will  any  one  give  me  one  hundred  and  ten? 
No  ?  Say  nine,  then. 

"  No  ?     Well,  we'll  call  it  eight. 

"  No  ?     Then  say  seven. 

"No?  Well,  we'll  jump  down  to  three.  Who'll 
give  me  three  ? 

"No  one?  Well,  one,  then.  Will  that  bring  you 
to  time  ?  What's  the  matter  with  this  town,  anyway  ?" 

He  now  stopped  in  his  flow  of  talk,  and,  looking 
round  upon  the  faces  before  him,  he  broke  out  in  a 
voice  trembling  with  emotion,  and  speaking  in  tones 
which  told  the  assembled  listeners  that  the  tears  lay 
very  near  the  surface  : 

"  Can't  I  get  one  bid  ?  Not  even  one  ?  Isn't  there 
a  single  man  or  woman  in  all  this  throng  who  will  give 
me  one  dollar,  just  one  little  dollar,  when  it  will  save 
the  homestead,  the  dear  old  homestead,  where  the  date- 
and  the  fan-palms  wave  their  graceful  foliage  in  the 
perfumed  breezes ;  where  the  roses  blossom  all  the  year 
in  the  open  air ;  where  we  have  played  together  in 
childhood's  happy  hours  through  the  long  sunny  days, 
and  been  so  happy, — oh,  so  happy  !  Can  it  be  that  I 
am  offered  not  one  paltry  dollar,  when  it  will  save  the 
dear  old  homestead  ?" 

Then,  suddenly  changing  from  the  pathetic,  he  began, 
in  mildly  persuasive  tones,  to  argue  the  point. 

"  Why,  friends,"  he  said,  "just  think  of  the  fabu 
lous  prices  these  lots,  now  going  begging,  are  going  to 
bring  inside  of  five — no,  inside  of  three  years.  You 
don't  seem  to  realize  how  Jonah's  gourd  grows  out 
here.  What  was  Pasadena  ten  years  ago?  Where 
were  Riverside  and  Orange  then  ? 


130  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

"  I  am  coming  closer  home,  and  ask  you  about  how 
much  Ventura,  over  there,  amounted  to  only  ten  years 
ago? 

"  So  I  could  stand  here  all  day  and  tell  you  about 
big  cities  and  thriving  towns  here  in  Southern  Cali 
fornia,  that  eight  and  ten  years  ago  men  would  hardly 
take  a  lot  in  as  a  gift.  Now  you  can't  touch  one  in 
any  of  them  unless  you  cover  it  all  over  with  coined 
gold,  and  fresh  from  the  mint  at  that. 

"Why",  bless  your  innocent  hearts,  what  are  you 
afraid  of  here  ?  Anything  is  perfectly  safe  in  South 
ern  California.  We  are  selling  lots  to-day  for  hun 
dreds  that  you'll  have  to  give  thousands  for  inside  of 
a  twelvemonth,  if  you  let  them  fall  into  the  hands  of 
speculators." 

Just  whose  hands  they  were  in  now  he  did  not  see 
fit  to  explain. 

After  some  urging  the  lot  was  finally  sold ;  and,  as 
it  was  now  noon,  the  sale  was  adjourned  until  two. 
o'clock,  and  the  company  was  invited  to  lunch. 

The  band  struck  up  a  waltz,  and  the  whole  thronging 
attendance — investors,  speculators,  and  spectators — 
made  their  way  to  the  tables,  where  a  bountiful  lunch 
was  provided  at  the  expense  of  the  Oakdale  Company, 
and  of  which  all  were  welcome  to  eat  as  freely  and  as 
much  as  they  chose. 

Warren  lunched  in  company  with  his  friends,  and 
as  he  helped  Miss  Wade  and  her  sister  he  asked, — 

"  How  do  you  like  it  as  far  as  you've  got  ?" 

"  It  is  as  good  as  a  play ;  I  never  saw  a  more  amus 
ing  creature  than  that  auctioneer.  What  a  Koko  he 
would  have  made !"  Mollie  exclaimed,  laughing  heartily 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  131 

at  the  recollection  of  his  droll  expressions  and  queer 
grimaces. 

"Yes,"  Mitchell  dryly  remarked,  "when  this  little 
bubble  has  burst  the  world  will  be  the  gainer ;  that  is, 
if  he  will  only  go  on  to  the  metropolitan  stage." 

Warren  looked  deeply  injured. 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that,  Mitchell  ?"  he  asked, 
almost  angrily.  "Did  you  not  hear  what  he  said 
about  towns  that  ten  years  ago  were,  some  of  them, 
not  in  existence,  and  that  now  are  large,  thriving, 
growing  cities  ?" 

"Certainly,"  Mitchell  answered,  not  in  the  least 
overcome  by  this  argument.  "He  might  have  said, 
though  he  did  not,  that  ten  years  ago  Los  Angeles  did 
not  amount  to  much,  while  to-day  it  is  a  great  city 
whose  brilliant  future  I  dare  not  attempt  to  predict." 

"  Then  what  is  the  matter  with  Oakdale  ?"  Warren 
asked,  indignantly. 

"  Simply  this,  my  friend,  that  cities  are  very  much 
like  men.  Some  are  born  great,  others  achieve  great 
ness,  while  still  others  have  greatness  thrust  upon 
them.  In  any  and  all  of  these  cases  there  must  be  a 
certain  degree  of  fitness  enabling  them  to  endure  this 
greatness;  while  in  none  of  them  can  greatness  be 
manufactured  and  the  town  then  be  thrust  into  it ;  and 
this,  it  strikes  me,  is  the  very  thing  you  are  trying 
to  do." 

"  I  don't  see  what  has  come  to  yon,  Mitchell,"  War 
ren  answered,  rather  crossly,  crumbling  his  bread 
nervously  as  he  spoke. 

"What  I  wish  had  come  to  you,"  he  answered, 
"a  rational  and  common-sense  way  of  looking  at 


132  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

things.  It  would  have  been  dollars  and  cents  in  your 
pocket  had  you  been  inoculated  with  this  worldly 
wisdom  before  you  embarked  in  this  scheme." 

Then,  interrupting  Warren,  who  was  about  to  return 
a  sharp  answer,  he  added, — 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Warren,  but  hear  me  out. 
You  will  notice  that  in  every  one  of  these  towns  which 
have  suddenly  come  up  from  little  or  nothing  into 
flourishing  places,  there  is  a  reason  for  this  marvellous 
development.  There  is  either  a  wonderfully  rich  soil, 
or  there  is  a  great  fruit  or  wine  industry  to  support  the 
place,  or,  as  in  Los  Angeles  and  San  Diego,  they  are 
commercial  centres ;  or  else,  like  Ventura,  they  possess 
a  productive  soil  themselves,  with  a  fertile  country  back 
of  them  whose  products  they  handle  and  ship.  The 
reason  for  growth  is  there,  you  see ;  they  are  none  of 
them,  strictly  speaking,  boom  towns.  While  the  scenery, 
climate,  and  so  on  are  there  too,  yet  these  are  thrown 
in  gratis,  no  extra  charge.  I  don't  want  to  throw  cold 
water  on  your  scheme,  but  it  seems  to  me  to  be  one  of 
those  enterprises  which  are  founded  on  nothing  but 
scenery  and  climate,  so  common  out  here,  which  already 
have  brought  reproach  on  the  country,  and  which  are, 
from  their  very  beginning,  destined  to  come  to  naught." 

"Thank  you,  Mitchell,  thank  you,"  Warren  an 
swered,  hotly,  highly  indignant  with  his  plainly-speak 
ing  friend.  "  If  Job  had  three  such  comforters  as  you, 
he  should  have  been  canonized  by  the  church  centuries 
ago.  Human  sanctity  can  know  no  higher  perfection 
than  that  patience  and  forbearance  which  prevented  his 
falling  upon  them  and  strangling  them  to  the  last  man." 

"  I  beg  pardon  if  I  have  hurt  you ;  I  only  want  you 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  133 

to  know  how  I  look  at  the  matter ;  and  I  think  that 
this  is  the  light  in  which  any  disinterested  and  cool- 
headed  person  would  view  it,"  Mitchell  replied. 

Further  discussion  was  prevented  by  the  resumption 
of  the  sale.  All  through  the  afternoon  the  bidding  went 
on ;  and,  under  the  graphic  word-painting  of  the  auc 
tioneer,  where  now  were  only  open  lots,  oak-trees,  and 
sage-brush,  fancy  could  picture  massive  business  blocks, 
with  the  elegant  homes  and  picturesque  villas  of  wealthy 
merchants,  shaded  by  palms,  magnolias,  and  fig-trees. 

The  bidding  was  more  brisk  and  spirited  than  in  the 
morning  ;  and  at  the  close  of  the  sale  Warren  triumph 
antly  announced  that  over  forty-five  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  lots  had  been  sold. 

"  Your  auctioneer  understood  his  business  and  did 
his  best  to  serve  your  interests ;  he  has  fairly  earned  his 
percentage,"  Mitchell  answered. 

"  Yes ;  but  what  more  nearly  concerns  you  is  the 
fact  that  you  had  best  make  haste  to  the  train,  or  you 
will  earn  the  privilege  of  standing  up  all  the  way  back 
to  town,"  Warren  replied. 

But  for  all  the  apparently  handsome  success  which 
the  sale  had  achieved,  something  was  manifestly  wrong, 
for  Warren  had  hardly  finished  speaking  before  Glenn 
came  up  with  an  anxious  look  on  his  face,  took  Warren 
by  the  arm,  and  whispered  in  his  ear. 

"I  cannot  do  it,  I  have  a  friend  with  me.  It  is 
out  of  the  question,  and  you  must  wait  till  to-morrow," 
Warren  emphatically  replied,  his  voice  and  manner 
betraying  the  utmost  annoyance  and  vexation. 

"  To-morrow  will  not  do ;  you  must  stay,"  Glenn 
answered,  in  a  tone  as  positive  as  Warren's  had  been. 

12 


134  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Mollie  quickly  saw  that  she  was  concerned  in  this 
debate,  and  coming  forward,  she  said, — 

"  Mr.  Glenn,  if  you  wish  to  detain  Mr.  Warren  for 
business  purposes,  I  can  return  on  the  train  with  my 
brother  and  sister  if  you  will  see  that  my  horse  is  safely 
taken  back  to  town." 

"Thank  you,  Miss  Wade,"  Glenn  repliejl.  "It  is 
of  great  importance  that  Mr.  Warren  should  remain  to 
a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  of  the  company  ;  and,  as 
for  your  horse,  my  little  niece  will  take  it  back  safely. 
She  is  a  great  horsewoman,  so  you  need  feel  no  fear  in 
trusting  her ;  and,  being  a  child,  a  habit  is  not  neces 
sary.  She  will  think  the  ride  a  great  treat." 

"  This  is  outrageous,"  Warren  said,  under  his  breath, 
to  his  companion,  as  Glenn  hurried  away.  "I  fear 
that  you  will  never  accept  me  as  an  escort  again." 

Mollie  laughed  merrily  at  his  annoyance  at  the  un 
expected  disarrangement  of  his  plans,  and  answered, — 

"Be  a  hero,  Mr.  Warren,  and  do  not  let  trifles  so 
seriously  vex  you.  Of  course  I  should  have  been  glad 
of  the  ride  back,  and  I  should  have  also  enjoyed  your 
companionship ;  but  for  this  once  I  shall  survive  the 
loss  of  both.  You  are  not  in  the  least  responsible  for 
this  turn  of  affairs,  and  I  hope  you  do  not  think  I  re 
gard  you  so.  I  thank  you  for  giving  me  a  very 
pleasant  day,  and  at  any  time  when  you  are  ready  for 
another  excursion,  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  go  with 
you.  Good-night !"  And  taking  her  brother's  arm 
she  tripped  away  to  the  train,  leaving  Warren  standing 
and  looking  after  her,  and  thinking  that  night  had 
fallen  over  the  scene  two  full  hours  before  its  time. 


CHAPTEE    X. 

SOMETHING,  it  was  clearly  to  be  seen  by  the  most 
superficial  observer,  was  altogether  wrong.  What  this 
"  something"  was  could  not  so  easily  be  ascertained,  for 
the  sales  had  certainly  been  good ;  the  bidding  had  been 
fairly  spirited ;  but  for  all  this,  after  the  adjournment 
of  their  informal  meeting,  not  a  member  of  the  Oak- 
dale  Company  left  the  grounds  with  a  countenance  ex 
pressive  of  the  satisfaction  which  every  one  of  them 
ought  to  have  felt  at  the  termination  of  so  successful  a 
sale. 

Whether  this  arose  from  the  fact  that  these  enter 
prising  speculators  were  anxious  to  control  the  entire 
planet  upon  which  they  dwelt  and  would  be  satisfied 
with  nothing  less,  or  whether  there  was  some  mystery 
behind  the  whole  affair  at  present  known  only  to  the 
stockholders,  no  one  could  say,  for  those  in  the  secret 
carefully  kept  their  own  counsel. 

"  Be  at  the  office  at  nine  to-morrow,  promptly,"  said 
Glenn,  the  president  of  the  company,  as  he  climbed  into 
his  carriage. 

"  I  will,"  Warren  answered. 

"Every  one  of  us  must  be  on  hand;  this  matter 
cannot  wait."  With  these  words  Glenn  drove  off 
home,  the  others  scattered,  and  the  impromptu  meeting 
of  the  Oakdale  Company  stood  adjourned. 

Warren  mounted  his  horse  and  rode  thoughtfully 
and  sadly  towards  Ventura.  The  journey  home  was 

135 


136  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

by  no  means  as  pleasant  to  him  as  the  ride  of  the 
morning  had  been,  and  he  found  the  companionship 
of  his  thoughts  by  no  means  as  pleasant  as  the  society 
of  his  pretty  friend  had  proved  a  few  brief  hours  be 
fore.  His  horse  was  a  good  one,  but  so  slowly  did  he 
ride  that  the  sun  had  long  gone  down  and  twilight  had 
come  on  before  he  had  reached  the  narrow  pass  which 
marked  the  half-way  point  between  the  Oakdale  tract 
and  town. 

As  he  had  been'  almost  the  last  to  leave  the  grounds 
and,  intent  upon  his  own  thoughts,  had  ridden  very 
slowly,  the  other  attendants  at  the  sale — stockholders, 
speculators,  and  spectators — had  gone  through  the  pass 
long  before  he  reached  it. 

It  was  a  beautiful  and  romantic  spot  by  daylight ; 
but  it  was  dark,  gloomy,  and  (except  to  a  skilful  driver) 
dangerous  after  nightfall.  On  one  side  the  hills  tow 
ered  up  over  the  road,  their  precipitous  sides  covered 
with  a  thick  growth  of  oak.  On  the  other  a  sheer 
descent  of  hundreds  of  feet  led  down  into  a  cafion, 
narrow  and  crooked,  opening  off  a  broad  valley  through 
which  a  clear  stream  wound  its  way  down  to  the  ocean. 
This  canon  in  former  days,  when  the  valley  had  been  a 
famous  range  for  cattle,  had  been  used  as  a  corral  into 
which  cattle  were  driven  for  branding,  for  herding,  and 
for  selecting  stock  for  the  markets.  The  old  corral  was 
now,  however,  in  no  way  useful  or  interesting  except 
for  the  old  associations  and  weird  traditions  connected 
with  it. 

A  cowboy,  so  it  was  said,  had  long  ago  been  mur 
dered  in  it  by  a  treacherous  companion ;  and  he  was 
popularly  supposed  to  have  the  poor  taste  to  still  linger 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  137 

around  the  scene  of  his  former  labors  and  final  suffer 
ings.  On  moonlight  nights  he  had  often  been  seen  to 
ride  a  ghostly  horse  in  pursuit  of  ghostly  cattle,  swing 
ing  a  ghostly  lasso  around  his  head  as  he  drove  his 
spectral  charge  into  the  old  corral. 

Warren,  however,  being  in  perfect  health  and  pos 
sessed  of  a  good  digestion,  was  distressed  by  no  fears 
of  being  granted  a  glimpse  at  this  vision  of  the  super 
natural  ;  but  the  sight  which  was  revealed  to  him  as  he 
approached  that  part  of  the  pass  overhanging  the  old 
corral  was  little  less  of  a  shock  to  him  than  that  he 
would  have  received  had  he  actually  seen  the  spectre 
horseman  "rounding  up"  his  immaterial  herds  hun 
dreds  of  feet  below. 

On  the  road  just  above  the  old  corral  two  men  were 
engaged  in  a  contest  of  life  and  death ;  while  their 
horses,  left  to  their  own  devices,  were  silently  browsing 
by  the  road  and  calmly  indifferent  to  the  enmity  of 
their  masters,  which  could  evidently  end  only  with  the 
life  of  one,  while  perhaps  it  would  cost  the  lives  of  both. 

Firmly  clasped  in  an  embrace  of  mortal  hatred,  they 
were  swaying  back  and  forth,  now  in  the  middle  of  the 
road,  now  almost  on  the  edge  of  the  cafioii.  Both  were 
powerful  men,  both  manifested  a  spirit  of  terrible  de 
termination,  and  every  inch  of  ground  was  fought  with 
a  desperate  strength  and  courage  which  showed  that  the 
battle  would  end  with  only  one  of  them  standing  upon 
the  road,  though  Warren  feared  that  neither  would 
survive  the  quarrel. 

Now  they  were  on  the  very  edge  of  the  precipice,  and 
one  of  the  antagonists,  slighter  and  more  athletic  in  his 
build,  had  almost  forced  his  foe  over  the  brink.  With 

12* 


138  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

feet  firmly  braced,  he  struggled  to  detach  his  adversary's 
hands  from  their  firm  clasp  about  his  waist,  then  force 
him  on  the  few  inches  necessary  to  hurl  him  to  his 
death.  But  the  brief  pause  necessary  to  accomplish 
this  cost  him  all  the  advantage  that  he  had  gained. 
Back,  inch  by  inch,  he  was  forced  from  the  edge  of  the 
precipice ;  and  still  struggling  to  unclasp  the  clinging 
arms  wound  around  him,  the  more  athletic  of  the  two 
again  forced  his  enemy  on  to  the  edge  of  the  chasm, 
forcing  him  once  more,  inch  by  inch,  on  to  his  death. 

With  an  exclamation  of  horror,  Warren  put  spurs 
to  his  horse  and  dashed  up  to  the  spot,  calling  out  to 
the  wrestlers  as  he  flew  over  the  ground.  The  road 
was  very  narrow  at  this  point,  and  as  he  reached  the 
place  the  fight  was  once  more  going  on  upon  the  very 
edge  of  the  precipice,  while  both  the  participators  were 
in  imminent  danger  of  going  over  its  edge  in  each 
other's  deadly  embrace. 

Warren  sprang  from  his  horse  upon  reaching  them, 
and,  catching  each  by  the  collar,  he  tore  them  from 
one  another,  saying, — 

"  Gently,  gently,  let  us  have  no  more  of  this  !  Good 
heavens,  Jake,  is  this  you  ?  Will  you  have  the  kind 
ness  to  tell  me  what  this  exhibition  of  Greece-Roman 
wrestling  means  ?"  he  added,  as  he  recognized  his  friend 
in  one  of  the  combatants. 

Still  holding  each  by  the  collar  he  looked  from  one 
to  the  other,  while  his  captives,  gasping  for  breath  from 
the  violence  of  their  late  exertions,  stood  perfectly  quiet 
and  made  no  resistance  to  his  interference,  looking  him 
calmly  in  the  face. 

By  the  dim  light  of  the  early  evening  he  did  not 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  139 

recognize  in  Jake's  antagonist  any  one  whom  he  had 
ever  seen  before.  Leaning  forward  and  peering  into 
his  face,  he  found  that  the  man  was  an  entire  stranger, 
though  his  dark  complexion  told  Warren  that  he  was 
of  Spanish  or  Mexican  descent. 

"  Could  you  not  have  found  some  more  secure  place 
for  your  gymnastic  entertainments, — some  spot,  for  in 
stance,  where  your  diversions  would  not  be  so  likely  to 
become  varied  by  exhibitions  of  your  skill  in  ground 
and  lofty  tumbling  ?"  Warren  again  asked,  after  looking 
at  his  prisoners  a  moment  in  silence. 

The  Mexican  was  the  first  to  recover  his  breath,  and, 
throwing  off  Warren's  detaining  grasp,  he  stepped  back, 
saying,  in  perfect  English,  though  with  a  strong  foreign 
accent, — 

"The  sefior  chooses  to  be  witty,  but  I  assure  him 
that  nothing  could  be  in  more  deadly  earnest  than  the 
contest  upon  which  he  happened  so  inopportunely." 

"  I  beg  leave  to  differ  with  you  as  to  that  point/' 
Warren  answered,  releasing  Jake  as  he  spoke,  but 
carefully  keeping  Mmself  between  them.  "It  seems 
to  me  that  my  arrival  was  most  fortunate,  for  it  has 
very  clearly  prevented  the  commission  of  a  crime, 
while  it  has  not  improbably  prevented  the  destruction 
of  you  both.  May  I  trouble  you  for  an  explanation  ?" 

The  Mexican  shrugged  his  shoulders,  but  made  no 
other  reply,  though  his  manner  clearly  intimated  that 
he  continued  to  look  upon  Warren's  interference  as  an 
unwarrantable  intrusion  into  matters  that  did  not  in 
the  least  concern  him.  Jake,  however,  although  he 
was  still  sadly  out  of  breath,  attempted  to  give  Warren 
an  understanding  of  the  situation,  and  replied, — 


140  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

"  I  give  you  my  word  for  it,  Mr.  Warren,  this  row 
ain't  none  of  my  doin's.  Carballo  would  have  it, 
though,  and  of  course  I  started  in  to  take  good  care 
of  number  one." 

The  name  enlightened  Warren  at  once.  The  fight 
was  clearly  connected  with  Jake's  love-affair,  and  this 
young  Spaniard  (as  he  proved  to  be),  the  young  lady's 
brother,  had  evidently  made  up  his  mind  to  free  his 
sister  from  the  attentions  of  a  lover  who  was  so  unac 
ceptable  to  the  family,  even  if  it  were  necessary  to 
terminate  the  engagement  by  putting  an  end  to  his 
life.  Turning  to  the  young  Spaniard,  on  hearing  this 
answer,  Warren  asked, — 

"  Are  you  the  Senor  Carballo  ?" 

"  That  is  my  name,"  he  answered,  very  coolly,  brush 
ing  the  dust  from  his  clothes  as  he  spoke. 

"Did  this  disgraceful  affair  originate  with  you?" 
Warren  sternly  demanded. 

"  That  is  a  matter  of  opinion  altogether.  You  can 
only  arrive  at  a  just  conclusion  as  to  the  merits  of  the 
case  by  reasoning  from  cause  to  effect,"  Carballo  an 
swered,  as  coolly  as  before. 

Warren  was  exasperated  by  his  calm  insolence,  and 
angrily  replied, — 

"  Come,  sir,  you  will  gain  nothing  by  this  evasion. 
I  have  witnessed  an  attempt  at  crime  on  your  part, 
remember;  and  it  would  be  well  for  you  to  bear  in 
mind  that  the  authorities  of  the  county  would  call  your 
crime  by  a  very  ugly  name.  If  you  can  give  me  any 
reason  why  I  should  not  lodge  an  information  against 
you  with  them,  now  is  your  time." 

"  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  you,  sefior.     If  the  au- 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  141 

thorities  have  any  questions  to  ask  of  me  they  will 
always  know  where  to  find  me,  and  I  will  recognize 
their  right  to  inquire,"  Carballo  answered,  seizing  his 
horse's  bridle  and  preparing  to  mount. 

Evidently  he  was  a  cool  hand,  a  very  cool  hand, 
indeed,  and  one  who  was  not  to  be  easily  frightened. 
So  Warren  decided  within  himself,  but  he  determined  to 
make  one  more  effort  towards  bringing  him  to  reason 
before  he  let  him  go,  and  called  out  to  him  saying, — 

"  Stop  a  moment,  senor  !  It  may  be  that  I  under 
stand  more  of  this  matter  than  you  suspect.  I  have  no 
desire  to  drag  a  young  lady's  name  into  unpleasant 
publicity ;  but  before  I  can  consent  to  drop  this  matter 
I  must  have  your  promise  to  attempt  no  further  unlaw 
ful  violence." 

Carballo  stood  silent  for  a  moment,  his  graceful  and 
powerful  form  dimly  outlined  in  the  growing  darkness 
against  the  background  of  his  horse.  Then  he  an 
swered,  with  bitter  sarcasm  in  his  voice, — 

"When  you  wish  to  clear  your  house  of  vermin, 
do  you  first  go  to  the  courts  and  secure  their  license  ?" 

On  hearing  himself  alluded  to  in  such  uncompli 
mentary  language,  Jake  gave  vent  to  a  half-stifled 
oath  and  sprang  forward  to  take  vengeance  of  his  pro 
spective  brother-in-law. 

Warren  at  once  seized  him  and  drew  him  back,  say 
ing,— 

"Jake,  behave  yourself!"  Then,  turning  to  Car 
ballo,  he  said, — 

"  My  friend,  in  all  civilized  communities  there  is  a 
peculiar  disposition,  to  you  I  suppose  wholly  unac 
countable,  which  is  strongly  in  favor  of  protecting 


142  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

human  life.  I  would  invite  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  this  is  now  a  civilized  section ;  the  laws  now  have 
a  force  out  here,  and  the  sentiment  of  the  people  en 
dorses  this  love  of  law  and  order.  If  anything  hap 
pens  to  my  young  friend  here,  you  will,  after  this 
evening's  demonstration,  be  held  accountable ;  and  I 
greatly  fear  that  the  results  to  you  will  be  a  throat- 
trouble  of  short  but  violent  nature,  whose  termination 
will  certainly  prove  fatal." 

Carballo  sprang  into  the  saddle,  and,  bowing  low  in 
mock  courtesy,  said,  in  reply, — 

"I  thank  you,  senor,  for  your  deep  interest  in  my 
welfare.  I  have  been  charmed  by  your  eloquence  and 
entertained  by  your  wit.  I  now  commend  your  inter 
esting  friend  to  your  protection ;  believe  me,  he  will 
need  all  your  care.  Buenos  noches"  And,  raising  his 
hat,  he  rode  away. 

"That  is  a  cool  fellow  and  no  mistake,"  Warren 
said,  looking  after  Carballo  as  he  vanished  in  the  dark 
ness.  Then  turning  to  his  companion,  he  said, — 

"  Well,  Jake,  I  think  it  would  be  as  well  for  us  to 
follow  the  example  of  our  late  entertaining  friend  and 
decamp.  I  suppose,  as  I  hinted  to  Carballo,  a  certain 
fair  maiden  was  the  remote  cause  of  the  gymnastic 
exercises  I  beheld  as  I  came  up  ?" 

"  Yes,"  Jake  answered,  as  they  mounted.  "  He  was 
waitin'  for  me  in  the  pass  here;  and  as  I  came  up  he 
called  to  me  and  asked  me  to  dismount,  as  he  wanted 
to  talk  to  me.  I  did  so,  and  we  got  into  hot  words  ; 
then  he  took  hold  of  me,  and  we  went  at  it  hot  and 
heavy." 

"  He  certainly  meant  to  release  his  sister  from  her 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  143 

engagement,  didn't  he?"  Warren  asked,  laughing  as 
he  spoke. 

"I  rather  think  that  his  family  were  just  as  likely 
to  go  into  mourning  on  his  account,"  Jake  answered, 
grimly. 

"  In  that  case  he  would  have  gained  his  purpose  just 
the  same,  for  the  fair  senorita  could  hardly  have  mar 
ried  the  man  who  killed  her  brother,"  Warren  replied. 

"  It  would  have  been  all  right  if  I  had ;  he  pitched 
into  me,  I  didn't  go  for  him,"  Jake  argued. 

"  True  enough ;  but  then  the  principle  holds  good, 
and  would  have  prevented  such  a  marriage  just  the 
same ;  however,  all's  well  that  ends  well.  I  am  glad 
that  I  came  up  in  time ;  only,  I  beg  of  you,  don't  get 
into  any  more  such  scrapes  if  you  can  help  it,"  Warren 
answered. 

"  How  can  I  help  it  if  he  comes  along  and  hunts 
me  up  in  order  to  pitch  into  me  ?  You  wouldn't  have 
me  stand  still  and  let  him  cut  my  throat,  would  you  ?" 
Jake  protested. 

"Hardly,"  Warren  returned.  "I  cordially  com 
mend  all  the  efforts  you  put  forth  in  the  way  of  self- 
defence.  All  I  meant  was,  to  caution  you  against  put 
ting  yourself  in  his  way,  or  doing  anything  to  provoke 
trouble.  Meanwhile,  I  shall  see  the  young  man  again 
and  take  measures  to  effectually  curb  his  warlike 
propensities  for  the  future." 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  came  up  as  you  did,  Mr.  War 
ren,"  said  Jake.  "But  I  shall  put  an  end  to  this 
whole  business  for  good  and  all." 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  ?"  Warren  asked,  anx 
iously. 


144  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

"  I  don't  know  just  yet,"  Jake  replied,  "  but  I  shall 
do  something  right  away." 

"  Don't  follow  the  example  of  our  friend  and  be 
violent,"  Warren  cautioned. 

Jake  laughed  and  answered, — 

"  I  am  not  a  Spaniard ;  you  need  not  fear  that  I 
shall  try  to  exterminate  the  family,  and  I  sha'n't  stand 
any  nonsense  from  them,  either.  I'll  let  you  know  in 
a  few  days  what  I'm  up  to." 

"  All  right,  only  don't  be  rash,"  Warren  cautioned 
again. 

Having  by  this  time  reached  the  city,  they  rode  to 
the  stable  and  there  parted,  Jake  to  go  home,  Warren 
to  go  to  the  hotel,  get  his  supper,  and  then  spend  the 
small  portion  of  the  evening  still  remaining  to  him  in 
the  society  of  his  friends. 


CHAPTER  XL 

WARBEN  did  not  sleep  well  that  night,  either  owing 
to  his  business  troubles  or  to  the  excitement  of  his  ad 
venture  in  the  pass ;  and  the  pleasant  evening  he  had 
passed  in  Mollie's  society  did  not  serve  to  overcome 
the  restlessness  which  one  or  the  other  of  these  causes, 
or  perhaps  the  combined  influence  of  both,  had  exer 
cised  over  his  spirits.  Weary  in  body  and  mind,  but 
wholly  unable  to  sleep,  he  tossed  uneasily  on  his  pillow 
through  the  entire  night,  anxiously  watching  for  the 
first  break  of  day,  which  he  welcomed  with  the  joy 
only  those  can  feel  who  have,  like  him,  been  unwilling 
watchers  through  a  long  and  weary  night.  The  first 
pale  gray  of  the  morning  twilight  called  Warren  from 
his  bed ;  and  after  first  trying  to  read,  then  making  an 
equally  futile  attempt  at  letter- writing,  he  threw  aside 
pen  and  paper  with  an  exclamation  of  impatience. 

"  It's  of  no  use,"  he  said,  angry  with  himself,  and 
tearing  up  his  epistolary  failure  as  he  spoke.  "No 
tea-drinking  old  maid  was  ever  more  nervous  and 
altogether  unstrung  than  I  am  at  this  present  moment. 
What  has  come  over  me  anyway  ?  This  Oakdale  busi 
ness  ?  That  little  fiasco  in  the  pass  on  the  way  home  ? 
It  does  not  seem  as  though  it  could  be  either  of  these ; 
for  any  man  who  is  a  man  at  all  ought  to  be  able  to 
bear  trouble  or  excitement  without  turning  womanish, 
and  I  do  not  seem  to  be  so  much  worried  as  altogether 
unstrung.7' 

Q       k  13  145 


146  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Going  to  the  window,  he  looked  out  over  the  glorious 
sunshine  which  was  now  painting  mountains  and  coast 
line,  islands  and  ocean  with  the  rich  orange  and  gold 
of  early  day ;  and,  inhaling  the  sweet  fragrance  of  the 
morning  air,  filled  with  the  cool  invigorating  perfume 
of  the  sea,  he  took  up  his  hat  and  cane,  saying, — 

"  I  believe  I  will  try  a  walk.  I  am  no  great  wor 
shipper  of  Aurora,  but  if  the  goddess  of  the  dawn  ever 
did  cure  an  attack  of  the  '  blues/  she  certainly  ought 
to  be  able  to  do  something  for  me,  aided,  as  she  is,  by 
such  grand  scenery  and  refreshing  breezes,  while  I  am 
a  fit  subject  for  her  kindly  attentions.  One  thing, 
though,  is  a  fact :  a  long  walk  will  at  least  serve 
to  take  up  the  time  between  now  and  the  breakfast 
hour." 

For  the  first  time  in  his  life  Warren  went  out  to 
make  trial  of  the  fresh  air  and  bright  sunshine  of  early 
day  as  a  remedy  for  unstrung  nerves ;  and  being  deter 
mined  to  make  thorough  work  of  it,  he  aimed  for  the 
steepest  and  highest  of  the  foot-hills,  intending  to 
climb  to  its  summit  for  his  morning  walk.  He  had 
not  gone  more  than  two  blocks  along  Poli  Street  in  this 
direction  when  his  attention  was  attracted  by  a  young 
lady  sauntering  along  only  a  little  distance  before  him, 
with  the  easy  bearing  of  one  whose  sole  errand  was 
the  enjoyment  of  a  pleasant  walk  with  happy  thoughts 
and  good  health  for  her  company. 

Warren  felt  certain  that  he  recognized  the  mountain 
dress  and  modish  hat,  so  becoming  to  the  trim  figure 
and  pretty  face  which  had  already  played  such  sad 
havoc  with  his  heart.  But  could  it  be  that  Miss 
Wade,  whom  he  knew  to  be  a  "  society  girl/'  could  it 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  147 

be  that  she  was  out  of  her  bed  and  walking  in  the 
open  air  at  so  very  unfashionable  an  hour  ? 

He  hastened  his  steps  in  order  to  make  sure.  Yes, 
it  certainly  was  she ;  he  could  not  be  mistaken.  The 
bearing,  the  poise  of  the  pretty  head,  the  graceful 
gliding  motion ;  he  could  not  be  mistaken ;  no  other 
girl  of  his  acquaintance  knew  how  to  walk. 

In  a  few  moments  he  was  close  behind  her,  almost 
at  her  side.  Yes,  he  was  right,  as  he  had  all  along 
known  that  he  must  be ;  and  she,  hearing  his  steps, 
turned  her  head  to  see  who  was  following  her  with 
such  a  very  evident  desire  to  overtake  her. 

Mollie's  countenance  expressed  her  surprise  at  seeing 
him,  and,  bidding  him  a  laughing  good-morning,  she 
waited  the  second  necessary  to  permit  him  to  join  her. 

"  This  is  an  unexpected  pleasure,  Mr.  Warren,"  she 
cried,  throwing  a  strong  emphasis  upon  the  monosyl 
labic  verb.  "  What  fascination  is  at  work  sufficiently 
powerful  to  draw  you  from  your  bed  at  this  early  hour, 
when  you  are  usually  taking  your  beauty  sleep  ?" 

"I  am  the  one  to  express  surprise,  Miss  Wade," 
Warren  answered.  "  Who  would  ever  dream  of  find 
ing  a  fashionable  young  lady  forsaking  her  bed  to 
enjoy  a  constitutional  at  sunrise?  Is  this  a  regular 
practice  with  you?" 

"  It  is,"  Mollie  replied.  "  But  permit  me  to  caution 
you,  Mr.  Warren,  not  to  indulge  yourself  with  any 
railing  against  '  fashionable  young  ladies'  in  my  pres 
ence.  I  know  very  well  that  I  am  possessed  of  an 
exceptionally  sweet  temper  and  an  almost  perfect  dis 
position ;  but  even  these  perfections  are  not  proof 
against  that  most  absurd  of  all  absurdities,  the  foolish 


148  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM, 

cry  against  '  fashionable  girls.7  Please  tell  me  what 
you  mean  when  you  define  the  term." 

Warren  had  not  been  expecting  to  be  taken  up  in 
this  way  and  so  suddenly  brought  to  book ;  for  a 
moment  he  looked  puzzled,  and  then  hesitatingly 
answered, — 

"  Why — I — I — should  say  that  a  fashionable  girl  is 
one  who  gives  up  her  time  and  her  thoughts  altogether 
to  society." 

"  Oh,  should  you  ?"  was  Mollie's  scornful  reply. 
"  Do  you  know  any  such  girl,  Mr.  Warren  ?  I  con 
fess  that  there  are  none  of  that  description  in  the  circle 
of  my  acquaintance.  Indeed,  I  cannot  imagine  such 
a  girl.  One  whose  whole  life  was  passed  in  gayety, 
with  no  home  life,  no  religious  life,  no  life  of  any  kind 
outside  of  this  one  whirl  of  amusement,  would  be  a 
strange  creature,  would  she  not  ?" 

"  Of  course  I  did  not  intend  that  you  should  place 
a  strictly  literal  interpretation  upon  my  words,"  War 
ren  replied.  "Of  course  a  girl  must  possess  some 
kind  of  domestic  instincts,  more  or  less  perfectly  de 
veloped,  however  ill-defined  her  moral  and  religious 
ideas  may  be.  What  I  meant  by  my  definition  was, 
that  my  idea  of  a  fashionable  girl  is,  one  who  makes  her 
social  success  the  chief  end  and  aim  of  her  existence." 

"I  perfectly  understood  your  meaning,  Mr.  War 
ren,"  Mollie  answered ;  "  and  I  intended  to  show  you 
that  your  definition  would  not  bear  inspection  even  a 
moment." 

"Where  is  its  flaw?"  Warren  asked,  disposed  to 
feel  hurt  at  her  criticism. 

"  It  is  fatally  defective  in  its  every  word,  as  I  will 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  149 

show  you  in  just  one  moment/'  Mollie  replied,  as  she 
stooped  over  a  bed  of  California  poppies  to  add  their 
yellow  glory  to  the  bouquet  of  wild-flowers  she  was 
carrying  in  her  hand.  "  There,"  she  said,  rising  with 
her  new  treasures  ;  "  is  not  that  lovely  ?  Lupines  ;  wild 
onions, — though  I  think  it  is  a  shame  to  call  such  a 
pretty  blue  flower  by  such  a  horrible  name ;  Mari- 
posas, — they  are  rightly  named,  though,  with  the  but 
terfly  beauty  of  their  painted  petals ;  and  now  I  have 
these  rich  yellow  poppies  to  set  it  all  off  as  it  should 
be.  The  fields  have  given  me  a  more  beautiful  bou 
quet  than  I  could  have  found  outside  of  a  conservatory 
at  home.  Did  you  ever  see  anything  more  lovely  in 
your  life  ?"  she  asked,  standing  before  her  companion 
and  holding  up  her  flowers  for  his  approval. 

"  I  never  saw  anything  that  I  thought  one-half  so 
beautiful,"  Warren  returned,  somewhat  dishonestly,  it 
must  be  confessed,  looking  not  at  the  flowers  but  at  the 
face  uplifted  to  his  own. 

It  was  a  face  well  worth  looking  upon  :  the  pure, 
clear  complexion  glowing  with  health ;  the  bright, 
dark  eyes  sparkling  with  happiness  and  animation ; 
the  red,  dewy  lips  parted  just  enough  to  show  the 
pearly  teeth  beneath,  all  combined  to  form  a  lovely 
picture,  and  Warren  can  almost  be  pardoned  his  wicked 
evasion  of  her  question.  She  caught  his  meaning  in 
stantly  and  dropped  her  eyes,  flushing  slightly  as  she 
answered  his  apparent  instead  of  his  real  meaning, 
saying, — 

"  Yes,  I  think  that  I  have  almost  a  genius  for 
arranging  flowers.  But  I  must  not  forget  my  duty  of 
remorselessly  tearing  in  pieces  your  definition,  which 

13* 


150  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

my  soul  abhors.  Your  majesty  has  graciously  deigned 
to  admit  that  your  '  fashionable  girP  must  give  some 
little  of  her  time  and  thoughts  to  something  besides 
her  social  life;  but  still  she  is  too  frivolous.  Now, 
your  definition  fails  to  define  in  this :  how  is  one  to 
know  whether  a  girl  is  '  fashionable'  or  not  ?  Are  we, 
who  wish  to  escape  this  dreadful  condemnation,  to 
dress  ourselves  like  guys,  and  behave  ourselves  alto 
gether  in  defiance  of  social  laws  ?" 

"  Why,  certainly  not !"  Warren  answered,  shocked 
at  the  very  idea. 

"  Then,  what  are  we  to  do  ?"  Mollie  insisted.  "  If 
we  girls  are  all  alike  to  dress  and  do  as  social  laws 
direct,  who  of  us  can  touch  this  awful  pitch,  'fashion,' 
without  being  defiled  ?  And  you  have  just  called  me  a 
( fashionable  girP  too." 

This  last  she  said  in  a  tone  expressive  of  the  deepest 
reproach.  Warren  felt  that  Mollie  was  almost  unjust 
in  pressing  so  closely  a  speech  that  had  been  inadver 
tent  on  his  part,  and  which  he  had  not  intended  should 
possess  any  great  amount  of  significance ;  while  he  cer 
tainly  had  not  intended  her  to  understand  that  he  re 
garded  her  as  in  the  slightest  degree  frivolous,  or  that 
he  thought  any  one  could  so  regard  her,  and  he  at  once 
hastened  to  reply : 

"  Oh,  Miss  Mollie,  I  assure  you  that  I  did  not  use 
the  phrase  in  its  conventional  and  uncomplimentary 
sense ;  quite  the  contrary,  in  fact." 

Mollie  laughed  heartily  at  his  distressed  countenance, 
and  answered, — 

"  Thank  you  very  much  for  your  graceful  compli 
ment.  But  seriously,  Mr.  Warren,  I  do  object  very 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

strongly  to  that  ridiculous  phrase,  '  fashionable  girl.' 
We  are  all  of  us  fashionable  girls/7  she  went  on,  with 
a  look  of  intense  earnestness  in  her  bright,  pretty  face ; 
"  that  is,  all  of  us  are  who  are  good  for  anything. 
Society  and  the  ideas  that  other  people  entertain  have 
rights  which  we  are  bound  to  respect,  and  they  make 
certain  righteous  demands  upon  us  which  we  are  bound 
to  meet  and  honor ;  and  those  of  us  who  defy  these 
demands  are  just  as  selfish  in  one  way  as  those  are  in 
another  way  who  live  only  to  themselves." 

"  That  is  true,"  Warren  answered ;  "  and  the  young 
ladies  I  intended  to  describe  by  the  phrase  in  using  which 
I  was  so  unhappy  as  to  provoke  your  indignation  are 
the  large  class  of  girls  who  have  no  thoughts  above 
nice  and  becoming  gowns  and  the  pretty  graces  by 
which  they  hope  to  shine  as  bright  particular  stars  in 
the  fashionable  world." 

Mollie  glanced  quickly  at  her  companion  with  a 
very  serious  look  in  her  dark  eyes ;  and,  giving  an 
emphatic  shake  of  her  graceful  head,  she  answered, — 

"  I  cannot  permit  that  censure  to  pass  unchallenged 
either.  You  have  no  right  to  say  of  any  girl  that  she 
has  no  thought  beyond  social  success.  Now,  I  am  no 
better  (and  I  hope  I  am  no  worse)  than  other  girls  of 
my  set ;  but  in  our  parish  at  home  we  girls  have  a 
guild,  every  member  of  which  is  one  of  those  dreadful 
creatures  you  have  just  been  condemning, — a  '  fashion 
able  girl/  Besides  other  religious  duties,  we  pledge 
ourselves  to  give  one-tenth  of  our  income  for  pious 
purposes,  while  over  and  above  this  we  give  as  we  are 
able  to  the  support  of  the  parish.  We  also  teach  in  a 
mission  Sunday-school,  while  we  also  do  district  visit- 


152  THE  BURSTING    OF  A   BOOM. 

ing  under  the  direction  of  the  Sisters.  The  world 
knows  nothing  of  all  this,  though.  We  cannot  go 
around  telling  every  one  what  we  do ;  it  would  be  im 
modest  and  irreligious ;  then,  it  is  just  no  one's  busi 
ness  but  our  own  and  our  rector's.  So,  I  have  no 
doubt  that  you,  and  every  one  else  who  knows  nothing 
about  us  and  our  motives,  set  down  every  individual 
member  of  this  guild  as  a  girl  wholly  given  over  to  the 
pomps  and  vanities  of  this  sinful  world,  and  as  being 
possessed  of  a  mind  incapable  of  rising  above  follies 
and  fripperies.  And  why,  pray?  Just  because  she 
tries  to  fulfil  her  duties  to  society  when  she  is  in  society 
just  as  loyally  as  she  does  every  other  duty,  and  to  this 
end  makes  herself  just  as  bright  and  attractive  as  she 
can.  But,  Mr.  Warren,"  she  added,  mischievously, 
"it  is  worthy  of  remark  that,  like  every  other  con- 
temner  of  the  i  fashionable  girl/  at  every  ball  and 
reception  given  this  season,  where  there  were  two  girls 
present  who  were,  physically,  equally  attractive,  you 
have  always  inconsistently  chosen  as  your  partner  the 
better  dressed,  better  mannered,  and  therefore  more 
'  fashionable7  of  the  two." 

Warren  laughed  heartily  at  her  vigorous  defence  of 
a  much-maligned  class  of  the  fair  sex. 

"I  acknowledge  myself  defeated,"  he  said,  "and 
I  confess  that  you  have  given  me  many  new  ideas  and 
a  new  insight  into  feminine  character  and  motives; 
while  I  must  also  admit  that  I  am  no  match  for  you 
in  debate.  You  should  have  studied  law,  Miss  Mollie ; 
you  are  far  better  qualified  for  the  profession  than  I." 

"  Oh,  no,"  she  replied ;  "  I  claim  no  skill  in  argu 
ment  at  all.  But,  as  you  have  just  admitted,  you  saw 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  153 

that  you  were  in  the  wrong,  and  were  too  fair  to  try  to 
make  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason." 

"Oh,  thank  you/'  said  Warren.  "All  the  bitter 
ness  is  taken  from  my  defeat,  because  I  am  overcome 
by  an  antagonist  so  fair,  so  valiant,  and  so  generous  in 
victory.  But  have  you  not  forgotten  to  tell  me  if  you 
are  always  so  early  a  riser  ?" 

"  I  think  not.  I  am  certain  that  I  did  assure  you 
of  the  fact  that  it  is  my  custom  to  rise  with  the  sun 
and  refresh  myself  with  a  brisk  walk  on  every  pleasant 
day." 

"  Of  course,  like  all  such  frightfully  energetic  people, 
you  are  in  pursuit  of  health  ?"  Warren  said,  interroga 
tively. 

"  Oh,  certainly ;  I  am  seeking  neither  wisdom  nor 
riches,  having  already  all  I  desire  of  either,  and  cer 
tainly  all  that  I  can  make  a  good  use  of;  but  health 
is  the  one  thing  with  which  no  one  can  be  overblessed," 
Mollie  answered. 

"What  do  you  do  to  dispose  of  days  which  you 
lengthen  so  unconscionably?"  Warren  asked,  as  they 
turned  to  retrace  their  steps  to  the  hotel. 

"I  find  enough  to  keep  me  busy,"  she  replied. 
"First,  I  always  go  back  with  a  ravenous  appetite, 
and  eat  a  hearty  breakfast.  You  cannot  imagine  how 
thankful  I  have  always  been  that,  since  the  steward 
placed  you  at  our  table,  you  were  not  an  early  riser. 
I  should  certainly  have  shocked  you  beyond  description 
with  my  appetite  at  breakfast ;  while  I  feel  a  humili 
ating  consciousness  that  my  prowess  has  dismayed  you 
sufficiently  as  it  is.  After  breakfast  there  are  always 
letters  to  be  written,  errands  to  be  done,  either  for  my- 


154  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

self  or  for  Effie ;  and  then,  when  all  else  fails,  there  is 
the  never-failing  feminine  resource,  fancy  work,  at 
hand  to  occupy  spare  moments  that  need  to  be  sup 
plied  with  duties,  while  you  have  no  need  to  ask  how 
many  hours  a  week  I  consume  in  riding.  No,  Mr. 
Warren  ;  I  see  the  question  in  your  face,  and  I  will 
forestall  it.  I  do  not  perpetrate  any  of  those  grotesque 
horrors  which  young  ladies  now  burlesque  art  by  call 
ing  '  paintings.7  As  for  the  amateurish  scrawls  which 
I  call  drawings,  the  less  said  about  them  the  better  I 
shall  feel,  especially  after  what  you  said  about  them, 
you  know,  on  our  ride  to  the  Ojai,"  she  added,  with  a 
teasing  glance  into  his  face.  Then  she  continued, — 

"  I  simply  detest  sewing,  and  I  do  not  do  any  when 
I  can  avoid  it.  But  here  we  are ;  and,  while  I  have 
enjoyed  my  walk,  I  think  that  I  ought  to  extend  you 
my  heartiest  sympathy  at  having  been  inflicted  with  my 
company  during  yours,  for  I  have  talked,  to  be  sure. 
I  have  just  so  much  to  say  every  morning,  and  you 
have  been  compelled  to  pay  the  penalty  of  meeting  me 
before  I  had  exhausted  my  powers  upon  Effie  and  John 
Addison." 

Warren  did  not  tell  her,  what  would  have  been  the 
truth,  that  he  loved  above  all  things  else  to  hear  her 
voice,  or  say  that  it  was,  to  him,  the  sweetest  music  in 
the  world,  simply  because  he  did  not  dare  to  do  so ; 
while  fortune  still  further  favored  him  this  morning 
by  permitting  him  to  enjoy  a  t&te-ci-tete  breakfast  with 
her,  neither  Mitchell  nor  his  wife  coming  down  while 
they  were  at  the  table. 

"  Mr.  Warren,"  Mollie  said,  as  they  seated  themselves, 
"  I  want  to  tell  you  that  you  are  deserving  of  great 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  155 

credit  for  what  you  did  on  your  way  home  from  the 
sale  last  evening." 

Warren's  pulse  beat  more  quickly  than  usual ;  for 
never,  since  their  acquaintance  began,  had  she  spoken 
to  him  in  so  cordial  a  tone. 

"  Don't  overrate  a  trifling  act  such  as  that ;  where 
there  is  no  possible  danger  there  can  be  no  heroism 
displayed.  Whatever  might  have  happened  to  Elkins 
had  I  not  come  upon  the  field  as  I  did,  my  interposi 
tion  did  not  imperil  my  existence  in  the  least,"  Warren 
answered. 

"You  have  been  a  true  friend  to  that  young  man 
ever  since  you  have  known  him,  and  a  valuable  friend 
as  well,"  she  added. 

"  Why,  I  did  not  suppose  that  you  knew  anything 
of  my  relations  to  him,"  Warren  answered,  surprised 
at  her  information  concerning  himself  and  his  doings, 
but  happy  because  she  did  know  and  appreciate  it. 

"John  Addison  has  told  me  all  about  it,"  she  re 
plied.  "  If  you  want  to  keep  your  proceedings  secret, 
never  let  him  find  out  anything.  I  fear  he  is  a  terrible 
gossip." 

"  Don't  let  him  persuade  you  into  believing  that  I 
am  a  philanthropist,  Miss  Wade.  I  am  by  no  means 
given  to  going  around  the  world  seeking  out  whom  I 
may  aid,"  Warren  said,  as  he  glanced  at  his  watch  and 
then  rose  from  the  table,  finding  that  it  was  now  time 
for  him  to  be  on  the  way  to  his  office. 

Mollie  laughed  as  she  answered, — 

"That  is  not  always  the  truest  philanthropy,  Mr. 
Warren.  Was  it  not  Sir  John  Suckling  who  said  of 
love,  'It  is  of  the  nature  of  a  burning-glass,  which, 


156  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

kept  still  in  one  place,  fireth ;  changed  often,  it  doeth 
nothing'  ?  And  something  of  the  same  sort  is  true  of 
our  love  to  our  fellows  which  makes  us  ready  to  help 
them ;  we  have  to  keep  our  kindly  interest  fixed  in  one 
place  and  make  that  the  scene  of  our  activity,  and  help 
those  who  need  help  as  they  come  into  it ;  for  if  we  try 
to  spread  our  sympathetic  feelings  over  the  whole  world, 
our  good  deeds  are  very  likely  to  begin  and  end  in 
nothing  but  feeling ;  and  it  strikes  me  that  you  are 
trying  to  act  according  to  this  good  rule." 

"  I  have  certainly  done  nothing  as  yet  deserving  of 
praise  or  even  of  notice,"  Warren  answered,  as  he  bade 
her  good-morning.  Although  he  so  strongly  disavowed 
the  performance  of  any  meritorious  action,  he  was  made 
very  happy,  all  the  same,  by  the  commendation  she  had 
given  him.  He  felt  that  he  must  certainly  be  more 
worthy  in  her  sight  than  he  had  once  been,  for  never 
before  had  she  been  so  cordial  with  him  as  she  had 
shown  herself  this  morning. 

A  sudden  change  from  day  to  night,  from  midsum 
mer  to  midwinter,  is  never  pleasant,  but  just  such  a 
change  it  seemed  to  Warren  that  he  was  making  as  he 
left  Mollie  to  walk  down  to  his  office  for  the  purpose 
of  attending  a  business  meeting  which,  as  he  had  been 
forewarned,  was  called  to  discuss  nothing  less  than  loss, 
while  it  was  quite  possible  that  it  might  have  to  deal 
with  disaster. 

The  four  stockholders  of  the  Oakdale  company  were 
present, — Glenn,  Warren,  a  New  York  man  named,  or 
misnamed,  West,  while  the  last  member  of  the  corpo 
ration  hailed  from  San  Francisco ;  and  considering  the 
shearing  process  to  which  he  was  destined  to  be  sub- 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  157 

jected,  he  rejoiced  in  the  highly  appropriate  name  of 
Lamb.  Glenn,  as  president  and  manager  of  the  com 
pany,  opened  the  proceedings  by  saying, — 

"  I  am  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  tell  you  that  our  sale 
of  yesterday  was  a  flat  failure,  and  we  shall  have  to  do 
something — take  some  positive  action — at  once,  or  this 
company  will  certainly  go  to  the  wall." 

"  I  thought  that  the  lots  went  off  nicely,  and  that 
we  were  making  a  pretty  good  thing  out  of  it.  For 
the  life  of  me  I  can't  see  where  you  figure  in  the  loss 
and  how  you  bring  us  into  such  a  desperate  situation," 
Warren  replied. 

Glenn  looked  compassionately  upon  his  partner,  as 
upon  one  altogether  too  guileless  to  fathom  the  plots 
and  counterplots  of  the  business  world,  and  then 
answered, — 

"  We  shall  never  see  any  money  for  a  good  share  of 
those  lots.  They  were  bid  off  by  agents  I  had  em 
ployed  to  keep  up  the  prices  and  prevent  the  whole 
sale  from  falling  flat." 

Warren  flushed  hotly  at  this  frank  confession  of  a 
double  game,  his  ideas  of  integrity  and  his  partner's 
theories  of  business  enterprise  by  no  means  coinciding. 
The  other  stockholders  also  seemed  to  view  the  trans 
action  from  Warren's  stand-point,  and  appeared  a  trifle 
uneasy.  Glenn  saw  the  sensation  his  open  avowal  had 
created,  and,  turning  to  Warren,  he  said, — 

"  See  here,  my  friend,  for  a  man  of  your  years,  and 
for  one  who  has  so  good  a  legal  education,  I  never  in 
all  my  life  set  eyes  on  one  with  such  crude  ideas  of 
business  and  so  full  of  finicky  notions  as  you  are. 
If  you  are  going  to  make  a  success  in  this  live  part 

14 


158  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

of  the  world,  you've  got  to  get  rid  of  your  nonsense 
and  get  a  little  go  into  you." 

"  It  may  be  that  this  affair  strikes  Mr.  Warren  and 
myself  in  the  same  light,"  Mr.  West  remarked. 

"  I  hope  that  your  ideas  of  go  didn't  prompt  you  to 
put  up  a  stool-pigeon  game  at  this  sale,"  Mr.  Lamb 
interposed. 

Glenn  glanced  angrily  from  one  to  the  other  of  the 
speakers,  his  small  sharp  eyes  glistening  like  needles  as 
he  answered, — 

"  Everything  connected  with  the  sale  was  perfectly 
open  and  above-board.  But  I  kept  my  eyes  open, 
gentlemen.  I  knew  that  there  was  going  to  be  a  snap 
game  sprung  on  us  from  some  quarter  or  other.  I  had 
got  wind  of  that  scheme  (no  matter  how)  which  was 
being  put  up  to  cry  down  our  property  and  represent 
us  as  acting  in  bad  faith ;  so,  when  that  white-livered 
hound  got  up  and  bayed  at  us,  if  I  hadn't  been  all 
primed  and  loaded  and  ready  for  him,  we'd  have  had 
to  come  sneaking  back  home  like  a  lot  of  whipped 
young  ones,  snivelling  along  with  our  fingers  in  our 
mouths.  We  wouldn't  have  sold  a  lot,  gentlemen,  if 
it  hadn't  been  for  me.  Not  a  single,  blessed  lot !" 

"  I  should  judge  from  what  you  say  that  the  fellow 
threw  cold  water  on  us  pretty  effectually  for  all  your 
sharpness,"  said  Mr.  Lamb. 

"  Kather  !"  Glenn  angrily  replied.  "  We  shall  have 
small  money  coming  in.  When  we  balance  our  accounts 
you'll  find  that  most  of  the  lots  were  bid  back  to  the 
company ;  and  they  wouldn't  have  sold  as  well  as  they 
did  if  I  hadn't  fixed  things  beforehand,  and  if  we  hadn't 
been  lucky  enough  to  get  a  bang-up  auctioneer  as  well." 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  159 

"  I  can't  understand  why  it  is  that  we  are  meeting  so 
much  opposition/'  said  Mr.  West,  anxiously.  "We 
are  not  opposing  any  one  on  our  side,  and  why  should 
other  companies  try  to  cut  our  throats  ?" 

"  It's  rivalry  !  it's  just  the  narrow-minded,  short 
sighted,  pig-headedness  of  some  dealers  right  here  in 
this  town !"  Glenn  roared,  fairly  beside  himself  with 
anger,  and  banging  his  fist  on  the  table  before  him  in 
his  fury  as  he  spoke.  "These  stupid  fools  are  afraid 
that  everything  that  don't  come  directly  into  town  is 
going  to  hurt  the  town.  They  haven't  got  brains 
enough  to  see  that  what  builds  up  the  county  can't 
help  building  up  the  town.  And  now  I've  got  a 
blister  ready  which  I  want  to  show  you,  then  I  shall 
proceed  to  put  it  on." 

With  these  words  he  unrolled  a  closely- written  man 
uscript  and  read  as  follows  : 

"  The  Oakdale  Land  and  Water  Company,  To  all 
barking  curs,  snarling  jackals,  and  sneaking  coyotes 
who  are  laboring  for  its  demise  in  order  to  devour  its 
remains,  greeting : 

"  From  the  time  that  the  Oakdale  Land  and  Water 
Company  was  first  organized  up  to  the  present  day 
there  has  been  a  confederacy  composed  of  a  number  of 
leering,  lying,  sneaking  individuals,  who  have  done 
everything  in  their  power  to  crush  the  enterprise. 
They  not  only  try  to  depreciate  the  property  by  insinu 
ations,  they  even  deliberately  lie.  Every  few  weeks 
some  fiendish,  malevolent  scoundrel  will  bark  at  the 
company,  and  all  the  mongrel  curs  of  low  degree  will 
join  in  the  yelping,  discordant  chorus. 

"  Instead  of  admitting  facts, — that  Oakdale  is  a  part 


160  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

of  this  wonderful  county ;  that  it  possesses  advantages 
in  some  respects  unsurpassed  by  any  other  section  of 
the  State,  or  even  of  this  grand  globe,  illuminated 
by  the  golden  ball  of  the  great  orb  of  day, — these  vin 
dictive,  splenetic  individuals  will  lie  about  it  so  that 
the  uninformed  would  think  that  the  wilds  of  Sahara 
were  a  fertile  oasis  compared  with  it. 

"Or,  if  the  location  be  admitted  to  be  good,  the 
honesty  of  the  company  is  assailed.  The  company 
don't  mean  what  it  says.  It  is  organized  for  no  pur 
pose  but  just  to  shear  innocent  lambs.  It  is  incompe 
tent  to  meet  its  obligations.  It  has  always  been  insol 
vent,  and  the  fools  who  have  bought  property  from  it 
will  lose  every  cent  they  have  invested.  Lying  asser 
tions  are  these,  all  of  them ;  but  it  is  a  sad  fact  that  a 
lie  will  travel  leagues  while  truth  is  putting  on  its 
boots. 

"  We  defy  any  man  to  come  out  into  the  broad  light 
of  day,  so  that  we  can  see  him  and  know  him,  and 
dare  to  say  that  the  Oakdale  Company  has  not  met 
every  obligation  it  has  ever  assumed,  and  we  guarantee 
to  cram  his  infamous  lie  down  his  scurrilous  throat. 

"  When  has  the  Oakdale  Company  wronged  a  man 
of  a  dollar  ?  When  has  it  failed  to  meet,  and  promptly, 
every  obligation  ?  Let  the  Solomon  who  knows  come 
out  from  his  hypocritical  concealment  and  speak,  that 
we  may  know  him. 

"  Let  him  be  manly  f 

"  Let  him  throw"  off  his  contemptible,  cowardly, 
stab-in-the-back  demeanor  and  be  an  open  enemy ; 
then  we  will  respect  him.  But  an  assassin,  a  cow 
ardly,  cringing  cur,  we  detest. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  161 

"The  Oakdale  Land  and  Water  Company  will  in 
the  future,  as  in  the  past,  pay  every  dollar  that  it  owes, 
and  faithfully  meet  every  agreement.  It  has  developed 
a  splendid  property.  It  has  secured  railroad  facilities 
through  which  the  back  country  can  find  an  easy  and 
profitable  market  for-  its  abounding  harvests.  The 
depot  will  be  built  at  once  and  a  post-office  will  shortly 
be  established,  while  the  silurians  will  be  quietly  re 
stored  to  their  ancient  geological  formations  to  wait  for 
the  next  scheme  for  advancing  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  to  call  forth  their  croaks. 

"  To  these  slanderous  fossils,  whose  chief  occupation 
it  is  to  wear  smooth  the  seat  of  their  pants  by  physical 
inaction  ;  to  these  specimens  of  a  low  order  of  animal 
life  who  would  rather  a  whole  train  of  progress  would 
run  over  them  than  strain  their  incomplete  organism 
by  getting  out  of  the  way ;  to  these  inhuman  specimens 
of  crude  creation  which  ages  of  evolution  cannot  raise 
to  the  dignity  of  the  baboon  we  direct  these  remarks. 
If  any  have  doubts  as  to  their  identity,  we  let  them 
know  that  we  can  establish  it,  and  we  withhold  their 
names  now  not  through  consideration  for  them,  but  out 
of  respect  for  ourselves. 

"  Some  of  them  call  themselves  business  men ; 
though  what  business  they  ever  transact,  unless  they 
call  slander  and  backbiting  a  legitimate  occupation,  we 
have  never  been  able  to  learn. 

"We  regret  that  such  cannibalistic  character-eaters 
and  lying  detractors  can  exist  in  this  glorious  State ; 
and  above  all  do  we  regret  the  presence  of  such  reptiles 
in  that  unequalled,  beautiful,  and  progressive  part  of  it 
lying  south  of  Point  Conception." 
l  14* 


162  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Glenn  laid  down  his  manuscript  and  looked  around 
upon  his  hearers  with  the  self-satisfied  manner  of  a 
man  whose  pent-up  feelings  have  found  a  safety-valve 
just  in  time  to  prevent  an  explosion  dangerous  alike 
to  himself  and  to  all  his  associates. 

"  There,"  he  said,  tilting  back  in  his  chair ;  "  that 
will  touch  up  somebody  right  smart.  The  blister  will 
fit  on  just  where  it  belongs.  Now,  the  question  for  us 
to  decide  is,  where  shall  we  insert  it  ?" 

"I  think  the  best  and  most  fitting  place  to  insert 
that  production  is  the  stove,"  Mr.  West  quietly  sug 
gested,  as  he  cut  the  end  from  a  cigar  and  slowly  pro 
ceeded  to  light  it.  Lamb  said  nothing,  but  nodded  his 
approval  of  his  colleague's  suggestion. 

Once  more  the  darkness  of  a  coming  storm  began  to 
gather  upon  Glenn's  brow.  He  glared  upon  the  pre 
sumptuous  speaker  for  a  moment  in  threatening  silence, 
transfixing  him  with  an  awful  look,  intended  to  strike 
terror  into  his  soul,  but  which  West's  calm  and  un 
troubled  demeanor  proclaimed  to  have  altogether  failed 
in  its  intention ;  then  he  said,  in  a  voice  trembling  with 
ill-suppressed  fury, — 

"Well,  sir,  what  fault  have  you  to  find  with  this 
letter  ?  I  called  you  here  for  suggestions,  and  if  you 
have  any  to  make  I  shall  be  happy  to  hear  them." 

"  I  meant  no  offence,  Mr.  Glenn,"  West  replied. 
"  But  that  letter  doesn't  strike  me  as  at  all  a  dignified 
production,  and  it  reads  as  though  it  had  been  written 
in  anger.  If  it  is  published  it  will  turn  the  laugh  on 
us  by  showing  every  one  that,  for  all  our  grand  splurge, 
we  got  wretchedly  left  at  the  sale ;  and  it  will  increase 
whatever  distrust  there  may  be  felt  towards  us  by  the 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  163 

anger  it  shows.  Those  on  the  winning  side  never  lose 
their  temper ;  so,  if  we  use  printer's  ink  at  all,  I  would 
advise  that  we  publish  a  calm,  temperate  statement 
of  facts,  and  invite  any  one  who  wishes  to  do  so  to 
investigate  our  financial  condition  and  inspect  our 
books." 

"  Never  !"  Glenn  roared,  once  more  pounding  the 
table  with  his  fist.  "While  I  am  president  of  this 
company  it  shall  never  be  investigated  by  a  lot  of 
sneaking  and  lying  silurians." 

"  I  think  myself  that  will  be  the  easiest  way  out  of 
the  hole  we  are  in,  Glenn;  it  will  show  our  good 
faith,"  Warren  interposed,  trying  to  soothe  his  irate 
partner  into  a  better  and  more  reasonable  temper. 

Glenn  was  now  almost  beside  himself  with  anger. 

"  I  will  permit  nothing  of  the  kind  !"  he  howled, 
jumping  out  of  his  chair  and  kicking  it  into  a  corner, 
then  turning  around  to  glare  at  his  companions. 

"  Oh,  that  I  have  lived  to  see  the  day  that  I  should 
have  to  do  business  in  company  with  a  pack  of  moss- 
backed  antediluvians  !  You  business  men  !  You  a 
lawyer,  Warren  !  There  isn't  one  of  you  that  has  the 
faintest  idea  how  to  do  business.  You  are  a  pack  of 
mealy-mouthed  milksops;  you  are  a  lot  of  half- 
weaned  tenderfeet ;  and  if  we  go  to  the  wall,  you  have 
sent  us  there,  and  you'll  have  no  one  but  yourselves  to 
blame." 

With  these  words  he  picked  up  his  hat,  crushed  it 
down  on  his  head,  and  rushed  out  of  the  office  to  walk 
off  his  wrath  on  the  street. 

For  a  few  moments  the  remaining  supporters  of  the 
unfortunate  Oakdale  enterprise  sat  looking  upon  one 


164  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

another  in  silence ;  then  Mr.  Lamb  arose,  and,  picking 
up  his  hat,  said, — 

"  Well,  I  shall  have  just  about  time  to  walk  down 
to  the  wharf  and  catch  the  boat  for  Frisco.  I  guess 
I'll  go  that  way,  it's  cheaper ;  and,  from  the  ideas  I 
gather  from  this  meeting  in  regard  to  our  affairs,  I 
should  say  that  we  shall  all  of  us  need  to  be  careful 
of  our  money.  Have  you  any  positive  knowledge  as 
to  how  we  stand,  Mr.  Warren  ?" 

Warren  shook  his  head  dubiously  as  he  answered, — 

"  No,  Mr.  Lamb,  I  have  not  the  shadow  of  an  idea. 
Glenn  is  the  treasurer  of  the  company,  as  well  as  its 
president  and  manager,  and  he  has  never  submitted  to 
me  any  statement  of  its  affairs  or  invited  me  to  go  over 
the  books.  You  are  as  well  informed  as  to  its  condition 
as  I  am." 

"  I  should  think  that  the  sale  was  a  perfect  fizzle, 
everything  considered,  and  that  we  are  in  danger  of 
going  to  everlasting  smash,"  Mr.  West  remarked. 

"  I  think  nothing  will  save  us  but  a  heavy  assess 
ment,"  Warren  replied. 

"  I,  for  one,  will  never  consent  to  that !"  was  West's 
emphatic  answer  to  this  hint. 

"  For  another,  I  will  never  put  one  cent  more  into 
this  scheme  than  I  have  already  invested  in  it,"  said 
Mr.  Lamb,  in  his  turn ;  and,  bidding  them  good-day, 
he  left  the  office  and  wended  his  way  to  the  wharf. 

"  As  the  meeting  is  evidently  adjourned,  I  may  as 
well  be  going,  for  there  is  nothing  that  you  and  I  can 
do,"  said  Mr.  West. 

"  Nothing  except  possess  our  souls  in  patience,"  was 
Warren's  reply. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  165 

"  Do  you  know,  Mr.  Warren,"  West  remarked,  as  he 
stood  in  the  door  of  the  office  before  going  out,  "  when 
I  get  back  to  New  York  I  shall  serve  the  same  end  to 
all  Eastern  speculators  in  California  real  estate  that  the 
drunkard  is  said  to  have  been  used  for  by  old-fashioned 
temperance  lecturers ;  that  js,  as  a  horrible  example. 
Like  many  another  spring  lamb,  I  got  excited  over  the 
boom  and  came  out  here  to  gather  wool ;  but  I'm  sorry 
to  say  that  I  shall  go  back  home  shorn  mighty  close ; 
most  mighty  close,"  he  added,  sadly  shaking  his  head. 

Warren  laughed  dubiously  and  answered, — 

"  I  am  even  worse  off  than  that.  I  am  shorn,  then 
plucked  perfectly  smooth,  and  I  fear  that  I  am  in 
danger  of  losing  the  hide  as  well." 

"  I  am  sorry  to  hear  it,  very  sorry,"  Mr.  West  re 
plied.  "The  truth  is,  that  we  ought  not  to  have 
picked  up  this  Oakdale  business  at  all.  The  boom 
had  burst  before  ever  we  touched  this  matter ;  blown 
higher  than  a  kite,  in  fact.  Now,  as  the  result  of  our 
fooling  with  it,  we  find  ourselves  lifted  with  it  and 
filled  chock-full  of  splinters."  Then,  dropping  his 
voice  and  looking  cautiously  around,  he  asked, — 

"  Do  you  suppose  Glenn  knew  all  along  how  things 
would  go  ?" 

"  No ;  Glenn  is  honest  according  to  his  light,"  War 
ren  answered.  "  I  will  answer  for  his  intentions.  He 
is  enthusiastic  by  nature,  and  he  has,  before  this,  made 
so  much  money  out  of  this  land-craze  that  he  thought 
it  must  last  forever.  As  for  us,  we  were  green  enough 
to  let  him  talk  us  out  of  our  seven  senses." 

"Do  you  think  that  the  boom  will  ever  pick  up 
again  ?"  West  asked,  looking  very  blue. 


166  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"  That  is  simply  a  matter  of  opinion.  If  you  ask  one 
man,  he  will  tell  you  '  yes/  If  you  ask  another,  he  will 
give  you  just  as  positive  a  '  no.7  The  truth  is,  nobody 
knows  anything  about  it,  and  we  must  wait  and  see." 

"  I  am  afraid  we  are  stuck,"  West  remarked,  as  he 
nodded  his  adieu  and  left  the  office. 

"  Fm  afraid  we  are,"  Warren  assented,  with  a  thor 
oughly  dejected  air  as  he  seated  himself  at  his  desk. 
Just  then,  seeing  Mitchell  pass  the  door,  he  went  out 
and  called  him  in. 

"  Mitchell,"  he  said,  as  his  friend  took  the  seat  to 
which  Warren  motioned  him,  "  when  will  you  be  ready 
to  go  on  that  fishing-trip  you  promised  me  ?" 

"  You  won't  let  me  off,  then  ?" 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it." 

"  Then  set  your  own  time.  If  I  must  be  martyred, 
I  will  not  name  the  day  for  my  own  execution.  I 
draw  the  line  at  that,"  Mitchell  replied,  with  voice 
and  manner  expressive  of  the  profoundest  resignation. 

"  What  do  you  say  to  Monday  ?  Can  you  be  ready  ?" 
Warren  asked. 

"  Having  no  preparations  to  make,  I  should  think 
that  it  would  be  possible  for  me  to  meet  that  date," 
Mitchell  said. 

"  All  right ;  Monday  it  is,  then,"  was  Warren's  reply. 

Mitchell,  who  had  been  studying  his  friend's  face  care 
fully  during  the  foregoing  conversation,  now  asked, — 

"What  is  the  matter,  Warren,  if  it  is  not  prying 
into  your  affairs  to  inquire?  You  look  positively 
azure.  Has  the  boom  burst  ?" 

"  That  is  just  it,  Mitchell ;  and  it  has  carried  me 
aloft  in  its  wake,"  Warren  answered. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  167 

Mitchell's  face  betokened  the  sympathy  the  extent 
of  his  friend's  calamity  demanded  as  he  next  ob 
served, — 

"  I  don't  want  to  follow  the  example  of  Job's  im 
mortal  friends  and  say,  ( I  told  you  so/  but  I  am  more 
deeply  sorry  than  I  can  say  to  find  my  worst  fears 
verified.  For  once  you  see  a  prophet  who  is  pro.- 
foundly  grieved  at  the  truthfulness  of  his  predictions. 
Still,  I  thought  the  lots  sold  well." 

"  Stool-pigeons,  Mitchell ;  though  I  give  you  my 
word  that  I  never  dreamed  it  until  this  morning," 
Warren  answered,  shortly. 

"  A-h-h !  Paper  ^ales,  gotten  up  by  our  friend 
Glenn,"  Mitchell  observed. 

Warren  nodded  assent,  then  said, — 

"We  shall  either  have  to  raise  a  round  sum  by 
assessment  and  try  to  hold  over  until  better  times,  or 
else  take  as  much  of  the  tract  as  we  actually  own  and 
sow  it  with  barley.  As  for  the  rest,  if  we  take  this 
course,  since  it  has  never  been  deeded  to  us,  but  we 
hold  it  on  contract,  as  we  say  out  here,  there  is  noth- 
,ing  for  it  but  to  let  the  real  owners  from  whom  we 
nominally  bought  it  take  the  property  again." 

"Follow  the  last  course;  the  barley  and  the  for 
feit  by  all  means ;  it  will  be  simply  throwing  good 
money  after  bad  to  embark  anything  more  in  so  wild 
a  scheme,"  was  Mitchell's  emphatic  reply. 

"  I  am  of  your  mind,"  Warren  answered.  "  Well, 
I'll  go  out  and  interview  our  guide ;  make  whatever 
arrangements  are  necessary  for  Monday ;  and  then  we 
will  see  how  trout-fishing  in  the  Matilija  will  act  as  a 
counter-irritant  for  a  bursted  boom." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

"  OH,  that  this  too,  too  solid  flesh  would  melt  instead 
of  turning  into  a  wretched  semi-fluid  condition  and 
remaining  in  this  nasty  sticky  state,  to  my  great  per 
sonal  discomfort ;  or,  would  that  I  had  the  wings  of 
an  eagle, — a  dove's  would  hardly  answer  my  purpose. 
Were  this  last '  oh7  granted,  the  first  would  not  need  to 
be ;  and  the  problem  of  locomotion  would,  for  me,  be 
forever  solved." 

As  Mitchell  uttered  this  pitiful  wail  he  threw  him 
self  upon  the  ground  gasping  for  breath  and  bathed  in 
perspiration,  fanning  himself  with  his  hat  the  while  as 
vigorously  as  the  feeble  energies  still  remaining  in  him 
would  permit. 

"  What  ails  you,  Mitchell  ?  Of  all  the  comrades  for 
roughing  it,  you  are  the  worst !"  Warren  answered, 
half  laughing,  but  altogether  impatient,  as  he  stood 
looking  down  upon  his  demoralized  friend. 

"  What  ails  me  ?  Well,  now,  that  is  a  question ! 
If  you  ever  attain  to  my  pounds  and  ounces  you  will 
thoroughly  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  problem  of 
rapid,  easy,  and  safe  transit  is  as  serious  a  considera 
tion  with  overgrown  individuals  as  it  is  with  over 
grown  cities.  But  I  hope  so  awful  a  judgment  will 
never  fall  upon  you."  And  Mitchell  shook  his  head 
feebly,  with  an  air  of  exaggerated  solemnity,  as  he 
half  sat,  half  lay,  under  the  shade  of  the  great  oak 
where  he  had  first  thrown  himself. 
168 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  1(J9 

"  If  you  knew  that  you  were  going  to  get  done  up 
at  nothing  you  ought  not  to  have  come.  I  dare  say  I 
could  have  found  some  one  else,"  Warren  answered, 
crossly. 

"  My  boy,  free  your  mind  to  me  to  the  utmost.  I 
know  that  tribulation  ruffles  the  temper ;  and  I  came 
along  with  you  partly  in  a  spirit  of  self-sacrificing 
friendship  :  to  act  as  a  kind  of  moral  buffer  for  you  to 
run  up  against  and  save  you  from  injury ;  while  I  also 
will  be  candid  and  admit  that  I  did  come,  in  part,  on 
selfish  grounds,  and  was  in  so  far  influenced  by  a  re 
gard  for  my  own  pleasure.  For  I  do  enjoy  an  outing ; 
my  heart  is  still  light,  even  if  my  body  is  no  longer 
so,"  Mitchell  replied,  assuming  his  most  benignant  and 
paternal  manner  as  he  spoke. 

Warren  gave  a  grunt  expressive  of  his  vexation  at 
the  fantastic  manner  Mitchell  had  assumed  as  an  offset 
to  his  own  ill  temper ;  but  he  made  no  other  answer, 
his  attention  being  occupied  with  the  wagon  which 
had  now  come  up,  laden  with  provisions  and  the 
camping  outfit,  the  horses  being  driven  by  the  guide. 

For  an  outing  in  the  Matilija  Canon  a  guide  is  by 
no  manner  of  means  a  necessity.  But  for  two  men 
who  know  nothing  of  cooking ;  and  who,  further 
more,  wish  to  know  nothing  either  of  this  or  of  any 
other  household  care,  it  is  pleasant  to  have  some  one 
along  to  do  the  disagreeable  work,  which  is  just  as  in 
evitable  in  camp  life  as  in  home  life ;  while,  as  neither 
Mitchell  nor  Warren  were  skilled  disciples  of  Izaak 
Walton,  they  also  felt  the  need  of  having  some  one  in 
the  party  who  would  know  where  to  look  for  the  fish, 
and  who  would  also  be  able  to  get  them  out  of  the  water 
H  15 


170  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

and  into  the  frying-pan  when  once  the  spots  where 
they  were  to  be  looked  for  had  been  found. 

The  man  they  had  finally  pitched  upon  was  an  old 
frontiersman  who,  in  his  eventful  life,  had  followed 
almost  every  known  calling  except  those  belonging  to 
civilization.  In  his  early  years  he  had  been  a  hunter, 
trapper,  and  guide.  From  these  callings  he  had  drifted 
into  mining  during  the  days  of  the  gold-craze.  Now, 
in  his  old  age,  he  lived  in  a  little  hut  in  the  outskirts 
'of  Ventura,  and  pretended  to  cultivate  a  few  acres  of 
land  which  he  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  buy  for  a 
few  hundred  dollars  in  the  days  before  the  "  boom," 
and,  consequently,  before  land  had  reached  its  present 
inflated  valuation.  On  the  strength  of  his  dignity  as 
a  land-owner  he  now  claimed  the  title  of  rancher  for 
himself.  When  all  the  points  in  his  favor  and  dis 
favor  had  been  duly  weighed,  he  was  found  to  be  one 
of  those  good-natured,  thriftless,  indolent  men  who  are 
well  known  "  characters"  wherever  they  live,  and  who 
are  liked  without  being  respected.  In  a  New  England 
village  he  would  have  been  a  local  celebrity,  the  hanger- 
on  at  the  grocery,  and  a  recipient  of  the  town's  charity. 
In  the  genial  climate  and  with  the  productive  soil  of 
California,  his  land,  even  under  his  unskilful  and 
thriftless  cultivation,  produced  enough  to  keep  him  in 
comfort;  while  his  earnings  as  the  general  factotum 
and  guide  to  fishing,  camping,  and  hunting  parties 
gave  him  a  revenue  over  and  above  that  which  he 
derived  from  his  landed  property. 

For  such  expeditions  James  True  was  always  in  de 
mand,  his  fund  of  anecdotes  making  him  an  entertain 
ing  companion  around  the  camp-fire  of  an  evening; 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  171 

while  no  one  in  the  State  knew  so  well  as  he  where 
was  the  best  place  to  go  at  different  seasons  of  the  year ; 
what  one  would  get  if  he  did  go ;  and — a  point,  after 
all,  as  important  as  either  of  the  others — if,  after  the 
places  had  been  shown  him,  one  had  not  the  skill  to 
find  and  get  the  game,  Jim  could  do  it  for  him,  while 
he  was  perfectly  willing  to  give  his  employer  all  the 
credit.  Partly  owing  to  his  inexhaustible  fund  of 
anecdote,  which  never  lost  anything  in  his  telling  for 
want  of  brilliant  coloring ;  partly  because  his  name  sug 
gested  the  sobriquet  by  which  Bret  Harte  designated 
his  most  famous  character,  he  was  universally  known 
and  spoken  of  for  miles  around  as  "  Truthful  James." 

It  was  by  his  advice  that  Warren  and  Mitchell  had 
pitched  upon  this  especial  point  in  the  beautiful  Matilija 
as  their  camping-ground,  and  the  event  showed  that 
Jim  fully  deserved  his  reputation  for  good  taste  and 
sound  judgment  in  such  matters.  The  canon,  never 
wide,  had  here,  owing  to  a  bend  in  the  mountains 
which  walled  it  in,  widened  a  little  beyond  its  usual 
narrow  limits ;  through  the  centre  of  the  cafion  a  creek 
ran  which  was  now  a  mere  rill ;  though  when  it  was 
swollen  by  the  winter  rains  it  filled  the  narrow  valley 
with  a  mad  torrent. 

The  crescent-shaped  bend  where  their  tent  was  to  be 
pitched  was  floored  with  firm,  soft  sand,  forming  a  camp 
ing-site  at  once  clean  and  pleasant ;  while  they  were 
also  favored  with  the  snade  of  an  oak  which  would,  as 
Mitchell  said,  be  their  dining-room  and  parlor,  while 
the  tents  would  furnish  sleeping  apartments  for  all 
three  of  them.  No  provision  for  rainy  weather  was 
needed,  and  this  fact  makes  camp-life  a  joy  in  Cali- 


172  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

fornia ;  since  here  one  can  camp  out  for  months  at  a 
time  in  the  mountains  and  cafions  with  no  fear  that 
happiness  will  be  turned  into  mourning  by  drenching 
storms  of  rain  and  wind. 

To  their  left  a  tiny  cascade  poured  over  the  towering 
cliff,  broken  into  spray  before  it  reached  the  bottom 
of  the  abyss  into  which  its  mimic  torrent  was  poured. 
Above,  on  either  side,  the  mountains  reared  their  crests ; 
each  bush,  each  leaf,  even,  on  their  summits  being 
distinctly  denned  against  the  blue  sky-line  in  the  clear 
atmosphere. 

"Come,  Mitchell,  aren't  you  going  to  help  us  set 
things  to  rights  ?  You'll  have  time  enough  for  study 
ing  scenery  before  we  break  camp/'  Warren  said,  as 
his  friend  still  lay  motionless  in  the  shade. 

Without  moving  in  the  least;  without  taking  his 
eyes  from  the  grandly  beautiful  scenery  by  which  he 
was  surrounded,  Mitchell  answered, — 

"Warren,  you  are  but  a  carnally-minded  creature 
after  all ;  you  have  no  soulfulness  in  your  soul,  or  you 
would  never  come  thrusting  pots  and  pans,  groceries 
and  bedding,  between  my  eyes  and  this  sublime  sight. 
Then,  you  -must  remember  that  I  am  still  out  of  breath, 
while  I  am  also  sadly  weary.  No,  I  am  not  going  to 
help  you  in  the  least.  I  shall  leave  all  such  grossly 
material  thoughts  and  tasks  to  less  sensitively  devel 
oped  minds  and  less  perfectly  developed  bodies  like 
yours  and  Jim's." 

Once  more  Warren  growled  an  answer,  for  truth 
compels  us  to  admit  that  his  losses,  both  present  and 
impending,  had  made  him  irritable;  but  Jim  now 
interposed,  saying, — 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  173 

"Oh,  never  mind,  jedge.  Let  the  pursy  gent  lie 
still.  Jest  help  me  put  up  the  tent,  'n'  then  you 
needn't  bother  no  more.  Nothin'  like  bein'  used  ter 
sich  work  ter  shake  it  off  fast." 

This  proposition  was  veiy  acceptable  to  Warren ;  so, 
after  getting  the  tent  pitched,  he  left  Jim  to  arrange 
the  rest  of  the  camp  equipage  according  to  his  own 
ideas  and  by  his  own  unaided  efforts,  unless  Mitchell 
should  sufficiently  recuperate  in  his  body  and  relent  in 
his  mind  as  to  assist  him  in  the  work,  which  was  not  at 
all  likely ;  while  he  sauntered  away  to  try  his  luck  in 
fishing,  and  see  if  he  could  be  fortunate  enough  to 
delude  some  unhappy  trout  from  the  brook  with  his 
new  rod  and  patent  fly. 

After  an  absence  of  something  more  than  two  hours 
Warren  returned  tired  and  hungry,  to  find  the  arrange 
ments  for  their  open-air  housekeeping  completed  and 
an  excellent  supper  in  process  of  preparation  under 
Jim's  skilful  management. 

Taking  off  his  basket,  he  laid  it  on  one  side,  making 
no  reference  either  to  his  good  or  ill  success,  Mitchell 
and  Jim  both  watching  his  movements;  the  former 
with  an  expression  on  his  full  and  rosy  face  almost 
childlike  in  its  innocence ;  the  latter  with  a  meaning 
smile.  Nothing  was  said  about  the  results  of  this 
initiatory  fishing  expedition,  however,  and  during 
supper  the  conversation  turned  upon  entirely  different 
topics.  At  last,  after  supper  had  been  despatched 
and  the  dishes  cleared  away,  Mitchell  remarked,  cast 
ing  an  anxious  eye  towards  Warren's  basket  as  he 
spoke, — 

"  I  say,  old  man,  I  think  you  have  left  that  basket 
15* 


174  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

altogether  too  near  the  fire.  Those  fish  will  all  be 
spoiled  before  morning." 

Warren  laughed  and  replied, — 

"  They'll  keep ;  don't  you  worry  on  that  score.  The 
fish  I  catch  always  have  that  peculiar  quality  of  being  as 
good  six  months  after  as  they  are  the  day  I  catch  them." 

"Fish  is  dod-gasted  queer  things,  anyhow,"  Jim 
interposed  in  a  meditative  tone,  now  primed  and 
loaded,  and  anxious  to  launch  out  into  one  of  his 
veracious  anecdotes,  as  they  sat  around  the  camp-fire 
smoking,  in  the  deepening  darkness  of  the  evening. 
"  Leastways  some  fish  is  most  mighty  queer  critters," 
he  added,  in  a  tone  of  the  profoundest  conviction  as  to 
the  truth  of  the  statements  lying  back  of  these  words, 
and  which  had  impelled  him  to  speak  them. 

"  Are  the  fish  of  this  portion  of  the  world  peculiar 
in  their  habits  above  all  others?  If  so,  post  me, 
please,  and  I  will  hope  for  better  luck  next  time  I 
go  after  them,"  Warren  said,  lighting  a  cigar;  and, 
leaning  back  against  the  oak-tree,  he  composed  himself 
into  an  easy  attitude  for  listening  to  the  forthcoming  tale. 

Jim  took  his  pipe  from  his  mouth  for  the  purpose 
of  overwhelming  a  "  swift,"  as  he  designated  the  lizard 
which  had  indiscreetly  ventured  within  range  of  his  aim, 
which  had  been  made  fatally  accurate  by  years  of  long 
and  painstaking  practice.  The  unhappy  reptile  lay 
perfectly  still  for  a  moment,  apparently  stunned  by 
the  magnitude  of  the  calamity  that  had  overtaken  it ; 
then  it  scuttled  away  to  the  brook  in  order  to  repair 
damages,  if  this  were  possible. 

After  watching  the  struggle  and  flight  of  his  victim 
in  profound  and  thoughtful  silence,  Jim  again  placed 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  175 

the  stem  of  his  pipe  between  his  lips,  drew  a  few  vig 
orous  puffs  to  make  sure  that  it  was  well  lighted,  then 
launched  forth  in  the  attempt  to  prove  to  his  auditors 
that  his  reputation  for  veracity  rested  upon  good  and 
sufficient  grounds. 

"I  waVt  speakin'  of  no  fish  hereabouts,"  he  an 
swered.  "  I  was  talkin'  'bout  them  air  flyin'-fish ; 
bat-fish  we  usety  call  ?em  back  in  Kansas." 

Warren  and  Mitchell  both  roared.  "  Flying-fish  in 
Kansas  !"  Mitchell  repeated,  as  soon  as  he  could  regain 
his  vocal  powers,  which  had  been,  for  a  time,  suspended 
through  laughter.  "  You  have  succeeded  in  discovering 
an  entirely  new  denizen  of  the  prairies,  and  one  hitherto 
unknown  to  fame." 

"  This  is  a  very  interesting  fact,  Jim,  and  one  that 
ought  to  be  communicated  to  the  world,  and  not  to  us 
alone.  If  you  will  give  me  the  county  and  town  in 
this  wonderful  State  honored  by  their  miraculous  pres 
ence,  I  will  communicate  it  to  the  faculty  of  natural 
history  at  Yale,  and  you  will  become  immortal,  Jim," 
Warren  added. 

"'Tain't  no  miracle,  jedge,"  Jim  answered,  giving 
Warren  the  title  his  legal  profession  conferred  upon 
him  in  the  popular  estimation.  "It's  all  nateral 
'nough.  I  can't  tell  you  no  town  they  wuz  ever  in, 
fer  fish  don't  take  ter  towns;  they  do  hev  schools, 
though." 

"Yes,  the  scholastic  habits  of  fish  are  proverbial, 
I  believe;  but  drive  on  with  your  story,"  Warren 
replied. 

"  Wai,  'twuz  this  way,"  Jim  answered,  pressing  the 
tobacco  into  his  pipe  with  his  finger  as  he  spoke. 


176  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

"  I'd  bin  gittin'  hard  run  fur  a  right  smart  spell,  V 
fust  I  knowed  I  wuz  dead  broke  'n'  nothin'  in  my  line 
ter  do.  'Twuz  down  in  Kansas,  Seward  County,  'n' 
all  I  could  find  in  my  line  wuz  cattle  ranching  so  I 
hired  out  on  a  ranch  as  a  bull-whacker.  Wai,  the 
ranch  wuz  down  on  the  Cimarron  River,  putty  nigh  the 
State  line,  clus  ter  the  Injun  Territory.  Feed  wuz  plenty 
that  year ;  so  the  cattle  wuz  doin'  well  V  lookin'  prime, 
'n'  the  boss  wuz  countin'  on  big  money ;  but  nobody 
need  count  on  jLothin'  in  that  durn  kentry. 

"  'Bout  midsummer  thar  came  a  big  drove  o'  grass 
hoppers,  'n'  then  we  knowed  twuz  all  day  with  us.  Ye 
never  seen  sech  a  sight  in  yer  life.  All  day,  from  day 
break  till  sunset,  they  come,  pourin'  over  the  kentry  in 
great  swarms.  All  day  long  'twuz  like  the  cloudiest 
kind  o'  cloudy  weather,  with  the  air  full  o'  snow-flakes 
bigger  'n  yer  thumb,  if  ye  can  picter  ter  yerself  sech  a 
thing.  We  had  ter  keep  lights  burnin'  in  the  house 
all  day  ter  see  anything ;  'n'  as  fur  goin'  out,  nobody 
couldn't  'thout  an  umbrel  'n'  gum  boots,  the  air  wuz 
that  thick  with  hoppers,  'n'  they  wuz  piled  up  on  the 
ground  knee-deep  on  the  level." 

"It  was  a  kind  of  a  grasshopper-storm,  I  should 
say,"  Mitchell  suggested. 

"  Didn't  you  need  rubber  coats  when  you  went  out, 
as  well  as  boots  and  umbrellas  ?"  Warren  asked. 

"  I  don't  ask  ye  ter  b'leve  me,"  Jim  answered  in  an 
injured  tone.  "  I  wouldn't  swaller  no  sech  darn  yarn 
myself  'f  I  hadn't  seen  it ;  but  the  toughest  part  of  all 
is  comin'  now." 

"All  right,  go  on;  let  us  see  how  much  you  can 
give  us  without  choking  us,"  Warren  said. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  177 

"  Wai,"  Jim  resumed,  picking  up  the  broken  thread 
of  his  narrative,  "  o'  course  all  the  cattle  died ;  they 
starved  ter  death,  for  everything  was  eaten  bare, — grass, 
leaves,  V  even  the  bark  o'  the  trees.  'Twuz  awful 
t'  hear  'em  bellerin'  'n'  moanin'  as  they  floundered 
round  in  the  dark  through  the  hoppers,  tryin'  ter  find 
suthin'  they  could  eat ;  but  they  wa'n't  nothin'  left. 

"  The  ole  man  sez  at  first  we'd  got  ter  butcher  'n' 
pack  the  meat  t'  market  somehow ;  but  bless  yer,  who 
could  git  round  with  hoppers  knee-deep  on  the  ground 
'n'  gittin'  deeper  all  the  time,  'n'  the  air  full,  thicker 
'n  snow  ?  V  the  ole  man  hisself  seen  that  V  knocked 
under. 

"  'Bout  the  ninth  day,  jest  for  a  change,  it  began  ter 
blow  from  the  south  towards  evenin',  'n'  the  hoppers 
began  ter  drift,  V  by  mornin'  the  house  wuz  putty 
nigh  buried.  Then  we  just  felt  blue,  'n'  don't  ye  forgit 
it ;  it  seemed  like  we  wuz  shet  in.  ter  starve.  But 
while  the  wind  wuz  blowin'  'n'  the  hoppers  driftin', 
afore  the  howl  of  the  wind  'n'  the  whir  o'  the  hoppers 
we  could  hear  a  queer  rushin'  noise,  nothin'  like  what 
any  o'  us  had  ever  heard  afore.  None  on  us  could 
make  out  what  it  wuz,  'n'  o'  course  we  couldn't  see, 
with  the  house  buried  under  hoppers. 

"  Bimeby  it  seemed  like  the  wind  died  out,  'n'  the 
hoppers  began  ter  make  less  noise,  like  they'd  gone  on, 
ye  know;  but  this  queer  rushin'  noise  kep'  up  'n' 
growed  louder  as  the  other  sounds  died  out  'n'  gin  it 
full  swing.  The  next  day  at  sun  up  they  wa'n't  a  hopper 
ter  be  seen ;  thar  the  house  stood  in  a  clear  perary  what 
looked  's  if  it  hed  been  swep'  by  fire,  'twuz  so  bare  o' 
grass ;  but  nary  hopper.  'Stead  o'  them  thar  wuz  the 


178  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

darndest  sight  enny  man  ever  set  eyes  on,  V  one  that 
jest  knocked  every  man-jack  o'  us  inter  a  heap. 

"The  ground  wuz  kivered  'ith  fish, — bat-fish, — 
millions  on  'em,  great  big  fellers  longer  'n  yer  arm.  It 
seems  they'd  scented  these  hoppers  as  they  flew  over 
the  Cimarron;  V  these  flyin'-fish  is  mighty  fond  o' 
hoppers,  but  they  can't  fly  ag'in'  the  wind.  Wai,  arter 
the  hoppers  'd  crossed  the  river,  it  seems  it  began 
ter  blow  t'other  way,  V  that  wuz  what  kep'  the  hoppers 
with  us  so  long,  'n'  flying-fish,  or  bat-fish,  we  called  'em, 
couldn't  git  out  o'  the  river.  But  when  the  gale  from 
the  south  blowed  so  hard  that  it  drifted  the  hoppers, 
that  wuz  jest  what  the  fish  wanted ;  V  then  the  hull 
school  tuk  wing  V  flew  in,  V  et  up  every  last  hopper 
on  'em.  Thar  they  lay,  stuffed  so  chock-full  't  they 
couldn't  move,  lyin'  round  on  the  ground,  all  but  three 
or  four,  what  wuz  roostih'  on  the  wreck  of  a  tree  the 
hoppers  'd  et  most  ter  a  stump." 

Jim  paused  in  his  narrative  and  gazed  meditatively 
into  the  fire,  puffing  vigorously  at  his  pipe  in  the  mean 
time. 

"  Well,  what  became  of  the  fish  ?"  Warren  asked. 

"  We  wanted  ter  let  'em  go,  seein'  the  scrape  they'd 
got  us  out  of;  but  the  ole  man  wuz  a  ungrateful  old 
cuss,  'n'  he  said  no  !  his  cattle  wuz  all  dead ;  'n'  he 
wuz  ruined  if  he  couldn't  realize  off  them  fish ;  'n'  if 
we  wanted  him  ter  stump  up  ter  us  when  pay-day 
came,  we'd  got  ter  go  in  'n'  ketch  them  fish  'n'  butcher 
'em ;  so  we  did.  Came  mighty  tough,  though.  Some 
on  'em  we  sent  fresh  ter  Topeka ;  the  rest  on  'em  we 
pickled  'n'  sent  all  over  the  kentry.  Bales  on  'em  went 
East;  'n'  I  shouldn't  wonder  ef  you  gents  had  seen 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  179 

some  of  'em  'n'  like  'nough  eat  'em :  '  Cimarron  Salt 
Fish7  they  wuz  marked,  called  arter  the  river  they 
came  from,  ye  know.'7 

"  No,  I  never  happened  to  see  any  of  that  brand/' 
Warren  answered. 

Mitchell  had  said  nothing,  but  sat  calmly  listening, 
his  countenance  expressing  the  most  implicit  confidence 
in  the  story.  Now  he  spoke,  saying, — 

"How  did  that  little  speculation  in  fish  turn  out, 
Jim?" 

"  Prime  !"  that  veracious  worthy  at  once  replied. 
"  The  boss  owned  up  that  he'd  done  better  'n  he'd  'a' 
done  on  the  beef.  We  all  reckoned  't  he  made  about 
four  times  what  the  beef  'd  'a'  brought  him." 

"  On  what  grounds  did  you  base  your  suspicions  to 
that  effect?"  Mitchell  asked,  with  an  appearance  of 
deeply  increasing  interest. 

"  Wai,  thar  wuz  sech  a  right  smart  o'  fish ;  'n'  thar 
ain't  no  good  fish  in  Kansas,  while  some  folks  over 
here  in  Californy  don't  keer  much  fur  the  fish  they  hev 
here.  These  fish  wuz  prime ;  I  never  seen  none  better, 
'n'  I've  seen  mighty  good  fish  in  my  day ;  so  he  got 
his  own  price,  'n'  coined  money." 

"  Warren,"  Mitchell  said,  speaking  with  an  air  of 
profound  conviction  as  to  the  truth  of  his  own  words, 
"  Warren,  here  is  our  chance.  We'll  petition  the  Legis 
lature,  buy  the  right  to  all  the  flying-fish  in  Kansas 
waters,  and  get  up  a  great  flying-fish  trust.  There's 
millions  in  it,  in  the  language  of  the  immortal  Sellers." 

"  No  use,"  Jim  answered,  gravely.  "  That  dodge 
won't  work.  They  hain't  a  bat-fish  been  seen  in 
Kansas  sence.  We  all  thought  that  every  last  fish  on 


180  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

'em  come  out  after  the  hoppers,  V  that  we  wiped  'em 
all  out ;  finished  up  the  breed,  yer  know." 

"  Too  bad !"  "Warren  answered,  laughing  heartily, 
and  putting  his  hand  in  his  pocket  as  he  spoke  in 
order  to  take  out  his  watch  and  look  at  the  time. 
"  You  ought  to  have  sent  me  after  them  with  a  hook 
and  line  ;  that  would  have  preserved  at  least  a  few  of 
such  a  valuable  and  interesting  branch  of  the  fish 
family  as  a  wonder  in  the  world." 

Warren's  fingers  no  sooner  reached  his  watch-pocket 
than  the  smile  faded  from  his  face  and  was  replaced  by 
a  look  of  grave  anxiety.  He  felt  in  his  other  pocket, 
in  all  his  pockets,  but  without  success ;  the  watch  was 
certainly  gone.  This  was  a  loss  severely  felt  by  War 
ren,  both  because  the  watch  was  a  valuable  one,  and 
also  from  the  associations  connected  with  it.  He  rose 
to  his  feet  and  stood  silent,  searching  his  pockets  in  that 
anxious,  aimless  way  which  is  so  prominent  a  charac 
teristic  of  perplexed  masculine  nature,  as  though  it 
might,  perchance,  have  been  overlooked,  and  a  more 
careful  search  of  the  pockets  would  reveal  the  hidden 
treasure  lurking  in  some  corner  hitherto  forgotten. 
The  darkness  concealed  his  anxious  search  from  his 
companions;  but  Warren  soon  revealed  his  loss  to 
them,  and  at  the  same  time  invoked  their  sympathy 
and  aid,  saying, — 

"  Mitchell,  Jim,  I  have  lost  my  watch  !  Have  either 
of  you  seen  anything  of  it?" 

"  No ;  have  you  ?"  Mitchell  exclaimed,  rising  to  his 
feet  with  an  agility  not  to  be  expected  in  a  man  of  his 
weight.  "  You  must  have  dropped  it  from  your  pocket 
while  you  were  out  fishing." 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

"  True  enough  !  What  an  ass  I  was  to  wear  a  fob 
up  here  among  these  bushes  !"  Warren  answered,  angry 
at  himself  for  his  carelessness,  his  hands  still  buried  in 
the  pockets  of  his  trousers  and  turning  over  their  con 
tents  in  an  aimless  way. 

"  We  must  start  out  on  a  hunt  for  it.  Come  on,  take 
the  lead  and  show  us  where  you  went.  Jump  up,  Jim  ; 
your  experience  is  invaluable,"  said  Mitchell. 

That  worthy,  still  quietly  seated  on  the  ground,  was 
not  in  the  least  disturbed  by  the  loss  which  so  pro 
foundly  agitated  the  other  members  of  the  party ;  and 
so  far  was  he  from  showing  any  interest  in  their  dis 
tress,  even,  that  he  had  once  more  filled  his  pipe  and 
was  occupied  in  turning  over  the  ashes  of  the  fire, 
which  was  now  burned  out,  in  search  of  a  live  ember 
to  give  him  a  light  without  unnecessarily  consuming 
his  substance  by  employing  a  match. 

He  was  too  old  and  experienced  an  adventurer  to 
waste  any  thoughts  or  expend  any  regrets  over  losses 
which  are  clearly  beyond  repair,  however  great  they 
may  be ;  while  that  philosophy  which  enables  us  to  en 
dure  with  unflinching  fortitude  the  disasters  of  others 
caused  him  now  to  present  an  unruffled  exterior  to  the 
present  calamity,  and  one  which  seemed  to  Warren  and 
Mitchell,  in  their  distress,  the  perfection  of  stoicism. 

On  being  directly  addressed,  he  looked  up,  replying, — 

"'Tain't  no  manner  o'  use,  gents.  They  ain't  no 
sense  at  all  in  packin'  a  lantern  around  among  them 
bushes  to-night.  Huntin'  for  a  needle  in  a  hay-mow 
'd  be  fun  'long-side  o'  huntin'  for  a  watch  in  that  chap 
arral  by  candle-light.  Jest  keep  quiet  'til  mornin' ;  then 
we'll  stand  some  show  o'  findin'  it." 

16 


182  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

It  was  Warren's  watch  that  was  lost,  not  Jim's,  and 
he  could  hardly  be  expected  to  view  the  matter  in  the 
calmly  philosophic  light  in  which  it  presented  itself  to 
the  experienced  eye  of  the  old  frontiersman.  He  posi 
tively  refused  to  postpone  the  search  until  morning,  a 
refusal  in  which  he  was  supported  by  Mitchell,  while 
both  insisted  that  Jim  should  aid  them  in  the  search. 
At  last  he  grumblingly  assented ;  the  lantern  was 
lighted,  and,  Jim  taking  the  lead  and  "packing"  the 
light,  as  he  expressed  it,  they  took  the  route  over 
which  Warren  had  passed  in  his  fishing  excursion  of 
the  afternoon,  as  nearly  as  he  could  point  it  out,  search 
ing  the  thick  chaparral  on  either  side  of  the  trail  as 
they  advanced. 

The  night  was  clear  and  bright,  and  the  moon,  just 
beginning  to  rise  into  view  above  the  mountains,  was 
riding  in  pure,  cold  beauty  through  the  cloudless  sky. 
On  each  side  of  the  narrow  valley  (or  canon,  as  it  is 
commonly  called)  the  perpendicular  mountains  towered, 
crowned  with  here  and  there  an  oak-tree,  and  clothed  in 
sage-brush,  their  wrinkled  faces  forming  weird,  fantastic 
pictures  in  the  moonlight. 

Their  path  lay  through  the  thick,  tall  chaparral  by 
the  side  of  the  stream  which  wound  its  way  down 
through  the  canon ;  now  boiling  and  rushing  over  its 
rocky  bed ;  now  plunging  over  some  boulder  in  a 
mimic  water-fall ;  now  madly  striking  a  huge  crag, 
against  which  it  raged  and  foamed  as  though,  made 
furious  with  anger  at  finding  its  course  opposed,  it 
were  striving  to  overwhelm  the  barrier  raised  against 
it;  then,  wearied  as  well  as  angered  by  its  fruitless 
efforts,  without  staying  in  its  wild  haste,  it  turned 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  183 

sharply  to  the  other  side  of  the  canon,  to  immediately 
return  to  its  former  course  when  once  the  crag  had  been 
passed.  Now  calmly  and  quietly  it  deepened  into 
broad  pools,  in  whose  clear,  unrippled  surface  the 
moon  and  stars  were  mirrored  so  distinctly  that  fancy 
could  almost  dream  that  in  this  wild  place  the  extreme 
limits  of  the  earth  were  reached ;  and  now  the  vast  ex 
panse  of  space  lay  spread  out  before  human  eyes  and 
extended  above,  below,  around  them,  reaching  on  into 
infinity. 

Amid  scenes  of  such  sublimity  and  grandeur  they 
pursued  their  search,  and  as  they  paused  to  rest  for  a 
moment  beside  a  pool,  Mitchell,  as  he  gazed  down  into 
its  quiet  depths,  gave  expression  to  thoughts  much  like 
these,  saying  that  it  seemed  to  him  almost  irreverent 
and  wholly  trivial  to  be  searching  for  a  lost  watch 
while  you  were  gazing  off  into  eternity. 

As  the  lost  watch  was  not  his  property,  the  weight 
of  the  misfortune  did  not,  of  course,  rest  as  heavily 
upon  him  as  it  did  upon  its  actual  owner ;  and  Warren 
at  once  emphatically  dissented  from  any  such  view  of 
the  case,  saying  that,  as  it  was  his  watch  that  was  lost, 
he  should  certainly  not  suspend  the  search  for  senti 
mental  reasons,  and  that  he  furthermore  proposed  to 
keep  it  up  just  as  long  as  there  remained  the  remotest 
possibility  of  finding  it. 

About  midnight,  however,  the  search  was  suspended, 
and  very  suddenly  at  that,  for  no  less  a  reason  than 
the  rebellion  of  Jim,  who  flatly  and  firmly  refused  to 
go  any  farther  or  spend  any  more  time  in  the  quest 
that  night.  He  was  willing  to  go  on  with  the  search 
in  the  morning  and  hunt  until  the  watch  was  found, — 


184  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

or  until  it  was  clear  that  it  could  never  be  found ;  but, 
for  his  part,  he  was  through  for  that  night,  and  remained 
inflexible  in  his  resolution  to  go  back  and  "  turn  in." 

Nothing  was  left  for  Mitchell  and  Warren,  therefore, 
but  to  do  the  same ;  and  as  they  retraced  their  steps 
Warren  anxiously  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the 
chances  of  finding  the  missing  property. 

"  Bless  yer  heart,  thar  ain't  no  manner  o'  doubt  but 
what  ye' 11  find  it.  I  never  knowed  it  fail  but  what 
sech  things  always  turned  up  sooner  or  later ;  V  it's 
mostly  sooner,"  Jim  answered. 

"  Then  you  have  known  watches  to  be  lost  before  ?" 
Warren  again  asked,  determined  to  press  his  questions 
until  he  found  some  tangible  reasons  for  hope  in  his 
own  case. 

"Lots  on  'em,"  the  truthful  guide  answered;  and 
now,  another  veracious  reminiscence  coming  into  his 
mind,  he  went  on, — 

"  Why,  only  last  year  I  went  out  with  a  party  back 
into  the  mountains  yonder.  'Twuz  miles  'n'  miles 
from  any  suttlemint,  'n'  we  had  ter  pack  everything 
over  on  mules;  'n'  when  we'd  loaded  them  with  all 
they  could  carry  we  had  ter  pack  the  rest  ourselves. 
Talk  about  tired ;  wal,  ruther  !  When  we  reached  the 
place  whar  we  wuz  ter  camp  every  dad-binged  mother's 
son  of  us  wuz  dead  beat  out,  mules  'n'  men,  with 
trampin'  'n'  scramblin'  through  the  passes,  'n'  packin' 
grub,  'n'  guns,  'n'  blankets;  so,  'thout  stoppin'  for 
supper  nor  nothin'  else,  we  jest  unloaded  the  mules  'n' 
then  lay  right  down  'n'  went  ter  sleep. 

"  In  the  mornin'  I  wuz  waked  up  by  an  everlastin' 
row.  Thar  wuz  a  watch  missin'.  The  chap  as  lost  it 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  135 

wuz  a  Boston  feller ;  a  little,  finicky,  fussy  cuss,  'n'  he 
wuz  in  a  terrible  takin'.  The  watch  wuz  really  vallyble, 
like  yourn,  sir ;  'n'  he  sot  no  end  o'  store  by  it  'cause 
'twuz  costly,  V  'cause  'twuz  handed  down  to  him  from 
way  back ;  wot  ye  calls  a  airloom,  I  b'lieve.  Then,  he 
said  it  kep'  time  like  the  sun,  V  he'd  had  it  put  all  in 
fine  shape.  Now,  he  said,  if  he  ever  found  it  'twould 
be  all  out  o'  kilter,  V  thar  wuz  no  end  of  a  row. 

"  Wai,  all  hands  started  in  for  a  hunt ;  'n'  at  last, 
down  by  a  crik  we'd  crossed  the  day  afore,  thar  it 
lay,  jest  the  tip  o'  the  stem  in  the  water, — the  part  ye 
winds  it  up  by,  ye  know, — 'n'  nothin'  hurt  a  bit.  I 
picked  it  up  'n'  handed  it  to  the  feller  as  owned  it ; 
'n'  he  took  it,  solemn-like,  'n'  looked  at  it.  'Twuz 
goin'  all  right,  'n'  it  'd  kep'  time  all  right.  He  tried 
ter  wind  it,  'n'  'twuz  all  wound  up  tight  as  it  'd  go. 

"  They  wuz  all  puzzled  'bout  this ;  couldn't  see  inter 
it  no  way  'til  I  showed  'em  how  it  lay  when  I  found 
it;  then  'twuz  all  clear.  Ye  see,  jest  the  tip  o'  the 
stem  lay  in  the  water ;  'n'  it  lay  right  with  the  cur 
rent;  'n',  as  the  water  is  powerful  swift  up  in  the 
mountains,  it  'd  kep'  the  watch  wound  up;  jest  as 
fast  as  it  run  down  the  current  wound  it  up  ag'in. 
So  thar  it  lay  all  right ;  no  time  lost ;  nothin'  out  o' 
kilter.  Wa'n't  that  Boston  chap  tickled,  though? 
Oh,  no,  I  reckon  not !" 

The  truthful  chronicler  of  his  own  adventures  now 
became  silent,  and  nothing  was  said  for  some  moments, 
as  they  picked  their  way  back  along  the  bank  of  the 
creek.  At  last  Mitchell  called  out, — 

"Jim,  are  you  sure  that  watch  was  not  a  Water- 
bury?" 


186  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

The  guide  cast  a  disgusted  glance  over  his  shoulder ; 
but,  as  the  sceptic  was  bringing  up  the  rear  of  the  pro 
cession,  he  failed  to  see  it  in  the  dim  light  of  the  night,  so 
it  failed  to  impress  him.  Jim  thereupon  answered, — 

"  Didn't  I  tell  yer  this  wuz  all  back  in  the  moun 
tains?" 

"Yes." 

"We  wa'n't  out  o'  Californy." 

"  I  understand  ;  but  what  of  that  ?" 

"  It's  clear  ye  don't  know  nothin'  about  Californy," 
Jim  returned,  his  voice  expressing  the  deepest  com 
passion  for  such  dense  and  unenlightened  ignorance. 

"  Not  very  much ;  why  ?"  was  Mitchell's  reply. 

"  Why  ?  Bless  yer  stup'd  noddle,  thar  ain't  water 
enough  in  all  Californy,  if  the  rivers  wuz  all  turned 
inter  one,  ter  keep  one  o'  them  blamed  Waterburys 
wound  up  two  hours,"  Jim  replied. 

Mitchell  laughed,  but  being  worn  out  by  his  day's 
exertions,  he  was  too  tired  to  keep  up  the  conversation, 
so  he  said  no  more ;  while  Warren,  for  his  part,  was 
too  thoroughly  dispirited  to  feel  any  interest  in 
Truthful  Jim  or  his  adventures,  so  the  rest  of  the  jour 
ney  back  to  camp  was  accomplished  in  silence. 

With  the  first  break  of  day  Warren  resumed  his 
search,  leaving  his  companions  still  sleeping  soundly. 
At  last,  far  from  the  camp,  and,  fortunately  for  him, 
far  from  any  of  the  numerous  other  parties  camping  in 
one  part  or  another  of  the  canon,  Warren  found  his 
lost  watch,  hanging  from  a  bush,  suspended  by  the  fob. 

With  an  exclamation  of  delight  he  recovered  his 
property  and  hastily  made  his  way  back,  to  find 
Mitchell  lazily  swinging  in  a  hammock  reading,  while 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  187 

he  waited  for  the  breakfast  which  Jim  was  busily  en 
gaged  in  preparing. 

He  was  the  first  to  observe  Warren's  return,  and 
called  out  to  him, — 

"What  luck?" 

Warren  triumphantly  held  up  his  watch  for  a  reply, 
then  said, — 

"  But  as  I  found  it  hanging  on  a  bush,  I  was  not  as 
lucky  as  Jim's  Boston  friend,  for  my  watch  has  run 
down.  I  was  in  hopes  that  some  twig  would  brush 
against  the  stem  enough  to  keep  it  wound  up,  part  way 
at  least ;  but  as  I  had  no  such  luck,  will  you  give  me 
the  time,  Mitchell  ?" 

Mitchell  complied  with  the  request,  while  Jim,  cut 
ting  off  a  long  piece  of  raw  hide,  said,  as  he  handed  it 
to  Warren,  "  Here,  take  off  that  bit  o'  fancy  tomfoolery, 
hitch  this  on,  'n'  put  it  round  yer  neck.  Then  ye' 11 
have  suthin'  on  as  won't  break  nor  cut  easy ;  then  yer 
watch  '11  be  safe." 

Warren  complied  with  this  advice,  and  then  sat  down 
to  breakfast  with  a  lighter  heart  than  he  had  carried 
before  for  several  days.  The  clear  mountain  air,  the 
constant  exercise,  together  with  change  of  occupation 
and  of  scene,  all  combined  to  divert  his  mind  from  his 
business  troubles,  while  Mitchell,  who  was  always  a 
genial  companion,  now  made  especial  exertions  to  en 
tertain  his  friend  and  keep  him  from  brooding  over  his 
losses.  Warren,  to  his  own  surprise,  found  that  he 
was  continually  becoming  more  cheerful,  while  the 
future,  even  if  it  were  destined  to  be  one  of,  to  him, 
comparative  poverty,  did  not  seem  to  him  so  altogether 
hopeless  as  before. 


188  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

So  two  weeks  passed  pleasantly  away,  when  one 
morning,  to  the  profound  astonishment  of  all  but  Jim, 
who  was  never  surprised  at  whatever  might  happen, 
who  should  march  into  the  camp  but  Jake  Elkins 
accompanied  by  a  pretty  buxom  girl,  with  dark  skin 
and  melting  black  eyes,  who  leaned  affectionately  upon 
his  arm,  looking  up  into  his  face  with  glances  of  lov 
ing  confidence  and  pride,  while  he  completely  paralyzed 
both  Warren  and  Mitchell,  who  were  already  suffi 
ciently  overcome  with  amazement  at  this  sudden  appa 
rition,  by  introducing  his  companion  as  Mrs.  Elkins, 
n&e  Senorita  Camilla  Carballo  ! 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

YES,  Jake  was  actually  married.  The  "  settlement" 
of  his  difficulties  at  which  he  had  vaguely  hinted  some 
weeks  before  was  not,  as  Warren  had  then  feared,  the 
wreaking  of  summary  vengeance  upon  the  Carballos, 
to  be  accomplished  by  perpetrating  some  act  of  violence 
upon  the  person  of  one  of  the  male  members  of  the 
family ;  but  he  had  had  in  mind  all  along  the  inten 
tion  of  solving  the  problem  by  the  short  and  easy 
method  of  binding  Camilla  to  himself  in  the  silken 
bonds  of  matrimony,  and  leaving  their  respective 
parents  to  overcome  their  opposition  at  such  a  time 
and  through  such  influences  as  circumstances  should 
provide. 

It  was  not,  however,  so  easy  a  matter  as  Jake  had 
hoped  to  bring  Camilla  to  view  the  situation  from  his 
stand-point.  She  was  a  good  girl  and  a  dutiful 
daughter,  and  she  could  not  easily  be  convinced  that 
the  mere  fact  of  her  being  of  age  released  her  from  the 
duty  of  implicit  obedience  to  her  father's  commands. 

Jake  had  labored  industriously  to  show  her  that  she 
was  not  at  all  obeying  the  spirit  of  the  divine  com 
mandment,  nor  even  the  letter  of  it  so  perfectly  as  she 
supposed;  for  her  father  had  forbidden  her  to  meet 
him  or  even  speak  to  him  at  all ;  yet  they  were  con 
tinually  meeting  in  defiance  of  this  prohibition  ;  and  if 
she  were  prepared  to  disobey  in  this  one  point,  she 
would  be  no  more  guilty  in  taking  the  last  step  and 

189 


190  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

becoming  his  wife,  while  they  would  be  much  happier 
than  they  now  were  or  ever  could  be  while  the  present 
uncomfortable  state  of  aifairs  continued. 

With  true  feminine  want  of  logic,  Camilla  failed  to 
be  convinced  by  Jake's  reasoning,  and  could  not  be 
made  to  assent  to  his  views.  She  was  willing  to  re 
main  his  fianc&e  an  indefinite  length  of  time  in  spite 
of  her  father's  opposition,  but  she  was  not  ready  to 
become  his  wife  under  the  same  conditions.  But  the 
revolution  in  her  feelings  which  all  her  lover's  elo 
quence  failed  to  accomplish  was,  at  last,  worked  by 
her  own  affections.  She  loved  Jake  with  all  the  pas 
sionate  ardor  of  her  hot  Southern  nature ;  and  when, 
his  patience  at  last  being  worn  out,  he  assured  her  that 
he  would  no  longer  consent  to  occupy  a  position  at  once 
mortifying  to  himself  and  absurd  in  the  sight  of  others ; 
and  when,  his  indignation  provoking  him  into  becom 
ing  sarcastic,  he  prophesied  that  so  dutiful  a  daughter 
ought  to  find  her  days  long  in  the  land,  and  bade  her 
a  final  good-by, — then  it  was  that  the  tide  of  her  affec 
tions  swept  away  all  the  marks  which  had  hitherto  de 
fined  for  her  the  path  of  her  duty,  and  she  declared 
herself  ready  to  accompany  him  to  the  padre  at  any 
time  that  he  would  set. 

Of  all  the  influences  which  govern  our  nature,  there 
is  none  so  almost  magical  in  its  power  as  that  of  pure 
and  ardent  love.  It  works  a  transformation  in  char 
acter  so  thorough  that,  after  it  has  exercised  its  influ 
ence,  one  cannot  tell  with  any  certainty  from  what  the 
man  now  is  what  he  has  been  heretofore. 

While  it  is  perfectly  true  that  love  never  makes  the 
awkward  graceful,  nor  the  clumsy  fawn-like,  neither 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  191 

has  it  ever  been  able  to  endow  the  ugly  with  radiant 
beauty,  yet  it  does  bestow  a  certain  dignity  upon  the 
man  who  yields  himself  to  its  influence  that  he  did  not 
have  before.  In  his  desire  to  appear  attractive  in  the 
sight  of  the  woman  who  is,  to  him,  the  best  and  fairest 
in  all  the  world,  he  is  stimulated  to  endeavor  to  bring 
to  the  surface  all  that  there  is  in  himself;  and  so,  under 
the  influence  of  love,  the  timid  become  high-spirited, 
the  weak  grow  strong,  and  out  of  elements  which,  but 
for  this  best  and  noblest  of  passions,  would  have  lain 
dormant  forever  in  the  nature  of  many  a  man,  he 
develops  a  new  and  superior  character. 

So  the  Jake  who  came  into  the  presence  of  Warren 
that  bright  spring  morning  was  a  finer-looking  and  a 
better  man  in  every  way  than  the  one  whom  he  had 
last  seen  a  few  weeks  before.  But  the  having  attained 
his  object  and  become  possessed  of  his  prize  did  not,  as 
Jake  now  found  to  his  surprise  and  sorrow,  bring  all 
his  troubles  to  an  end ;  on  the  contrary,  they  were  now 
only  well  begun,  and  had  he  ever  heard  the  words  of 
the  old  Latin  poet — "  The  rose  often  lies  nearest  to  the 
nettles" — he  would  have  set  down  their  author  as  the 
wisest  of  men,  one  whose  incisive  genius  fell  little 
short  of  inspiration,  in  fact;  for  no  sooner  had  he 
transplanted  the  fair  flower  he  had  so  long  coveted  to 
adorn  and  beautify  his  own  home,  than  he  found  that, 
by  doing  this,  he  had  caused  the  nettles  and  thorns 
which  had  hitherto  surrounded  her,  to  his  vexation,  to 
spring  up  into  a  fuller  and  more  dangerous  activity, 
and  one  which  threatened  to  make  his  bridal  couch  a 
bed  of  thistles. 

But  laying  aside  Ovid's  figure  and  stating  the  facts 


192  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

in  plain,  unmetaphorical  language,  Jake  had  counted 
upon  his  mother's  countenance  and  support  when  once 
he  was  actually  married,  and  if  he  possessed  this  he 
felt  that  he  could  afford  to  face  and  defy  the  opposition 
of  Camilla's  family.  But  he  soon  found  that  the  solid 
rock  upon  which  he  had  hoped  to  stand  was  only  the 
veriest  sand.  No  sooner  had  he  introduced  his  bride 
to  her  new  mother  than  this  lady  gave  them  to  under 
stand,  in  the  unadorned  but  forcible  language  upon 
which  she  prided  herself,  that,  "having  brought  up 
one  family,  she  did  not  propose  to  bring  up  another ; 
and  as  he  had  been  smart  enough  to  get  a  wife,  he 
ought  to  be  smart  enough  to  take  care  of  her." 

In  short,  our  poor  friend's  sorrows  were  only  just 
beginning  ;  and  with  his  bride's  family  for  his  mortal 
enemies,  and  his  own  mother  a  broken  reed  on  whom 
he  could  lean  only  to  be  pierced,  he  felt  himself  friend 
less  at  a  time  when  he  most  needed  friends.  In  this 
way  it  came  about  that  his  bridal  trip  resolved  itself 
into  a  journey  to  the  camp  of  Warren  for  the  purpose 
of  seeking  his  countenance  and  support. 

Warren  heard  his  tale  of  woe  without  comment. 
When  the  narrative  was  finished  he  said, — 

"  Well,  Jake,  I  suppose  you  see  no  solution  for  your 
present  difficulties  ?" 

Jake  shook  his  head  dolefully.  If  he  could  find  one, 
he  would  not  now  be  putting  himself  into  the  hands  of 
his  friend,  a  thing  most  repugnant  to  his  newly-awak 
ened  manhood,  and  which  made  his  pride  give  him 
many  a  painful  twinge  lest,  for  all  her  affection  for 
him,  his  helplessness  should  lower  him  in  the  eyes  of 
his  bride. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  193 

Warren  understood  his  feelings  and  sympathized 
with  them.  While  Jake  had,  certainly,  been  unwise 
in  taking  to  himself  a  wife  when  he  was  not  able  to 
provide  for  himself  alone,  and  then  relying  upon  an 
other  to  support  her,  it  was  too  late  now  to  remind 
him  of  the  fact,  so  he  answered  cheerfully, — 

"  Don't  be  down-hearted,  Jake ;  there  never  was  a 
plight  so  bad  that  it  could  not  be  improved  ;  and  now 
that  you  think  you  are  in  the  lowest  depths  is,  I  take 
it,  a  sure  sign  that  your  affairs  will  take  a  turn  for 
the  better  right  away.  Now  take  my  advice  :  go  down 
to  the  hotel  below,  give  yourself  no  thought  of  your 
troubles,  but  be  happy  yourself  and  give  your  atten 
tion  to  making  your  wife  happy.  Neither  of  you  will 
ever  be  married  but  this  once, — at  least  I  hope  not, — 
so  devote  yourself  to  the  honeymoon,  and  make  it  as 
sweet  and  as  brilliant  as  possible.  Meanwhile,  I  will 
go  down  to  Ventura  and  look  out  for  your  affairs,  and 
I  give  you  my  word  that  before  I  come  back  I  will 
have  things  arranged  in  such  a  shape  that  you  will  be 
better  off  than  you  ever  were  before,  and  can  go  back 
to  a  home  and  a  business  of  your  own." 

After  some  further  conversation,  Jake  and  his  bride 
returned  to  take  rooms  in  the  hotel  for  their  honey 
moon,  happy  and  contented  in  spirit,  and  feeling  that 
they  had  not  done  such  a  rash  and  foolish  thing  after 
all,  and  leaving  Warren  to  begin  his  preparations  for  a 
journey  back  to  town. 

"  Mitchell,"  he  remarked,  stropping  his  razor  as  he 
spoke,  "  does  it  not  seem  as  though  my  life  was  guided 
by  an  evil  fatality?  Here  I  am  now,  simply  over 
whelmed  with  troubles  of  my  own,  when  at  the  very 
i  n  17 


194  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

height  of  my  anxiety  here  comes  this  boy  and  adds 
his  share  to  the  general  store  of  misery  which  I  am 
to  look  after." 

"  I  don't  see  any  fatality  in  the  matter,  my  friend/7 
Mitchell  replied.  "  People  have  an  ingenious  way  of 
manufacturing  trouble  for  themselves,  and  then  throw 
ing  all  the  responsibility  upon  Providence.  Or  else — 
and  I  don't  know  as  these  grumblers  are  much  more 
profane  than  the  others — they  deny  the  beneficence  of 
Providence  altogether,  and  swear  that  they  are  under 
a  curse.  This  world  and  its  affairs  are,  according  to 
them,  altogether  out  of  joint ;  everybody  and  every 
thing  is  governed  by  a  relentless  and  cruel  fate  ;  misery 
and  wretchedness  only  are  allotted  to  mankind,  with, 
perhaps,  the  exception  of  a  few  favored  ones ;  and  this 
all  goes  to  show,  beyond  the  possibility  of  question, 
that  there  is  no  good  and  merciful  Providence  over 
ruling  the  affairs  of  men." 

"  You  attribute  all  human  misfortunes  to  man's  own 
short-sightedness  or  his  own  folly,  then?"  Warren 
asked. 

"Don't  you?"  Mitchell  returned,  answering  War 
ren's  question  by  putting  another  in  his  turn.  Then 
he  went  on  before  his  friend  could  reply : 

"  I  don't  want  to  be  guilty  of  following  an  I-told- 
you-so  line  of  argument,  but  I  know  of  no  better  illus 
tration  of  the  point  under  discussion  than  one  which  is 
given  me  by  a  certain  young  friend  of  my  own.  This 
young  man  came  here  from  the  East  very  recently, 
wiser  than  any  or  all  of  his  friends ;  he  invested  pretty 
much  all  that  he  is  worth  in  a  visionary  scheme ;  and 
about  the  same  time  he  began  to  play  the  uncle  to  a 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  195 

certain  young  Californian  who,  having  never  been 
brought  up  to  take  care  of  himself,  has  seen  fit  to 
unite  his  own  want  of  fortune  with  the  equal  poverty 
of  a  young  woman,  and  then  comes  to  my  friend  to 
help  him  out. 

"  Now,  had  this  friend  of  mine,  who  shall  be  name 
less,  been  worldly-wise  and  kept  his  money  in  his  own 
hands ;  and  had  he  been  comfortably  selfish,  and  re 
fused  to  trouble  his  head  with  any  one's  matters  except 
his  own,  he  would  not  be  mourning  to-day  because  his 
doll  is  stuffed  with  sawdust,  and  bemoaning  fate  for 
what  is,  after  all,  the  outcome  of  his  own  doings." 

Warren  laughed  at  this  graphic  review  of  his  recent 
career,  and  said, — 

"  I  shall  not  contradict  you,  and  I  do  not  feel  in  the 
mood  for  pursuing  the  argument.  But,  after  all,  I  do 
not  regret  anything  I  have  done,  the  Oakdale  invest 
ment  alone  excepted.  Jake  is  a  good  fellow  and  well 
worth  all  the  trouble  he  makes  me ;  I  feel  confident 
that  there  is  good  stuff  in  him,  and  that  he  will  do  well 
if  he  can  only  have  half  a  chance." 

"  Yes,  I  like  his  looks,  and  I  hope  you  can  unearth 
something  for  him,"  Mitchell  replied. 

"  Do  you  know,"  Warren  resumed,  "  I  find  that  his 
troubles  are  proving  an  excellent  counterpoise  to  my 
own  calamities.  I  think  it  must  be  that  there  is  a  spice 
of  the  savage  in  us  all ;  for,  as  Lucretius  found  such 
solid  satisfaction  in  standing  on  the  shore  and  watching 
a  ship  founder  out  on  the  sea,  because  the  wretchedness 
of  the  unfortunate  sailors  contrasted  so  comfortably 
with  his  own  security,  I  find  that  I  am  beginning  to 
feel  quite  cheerful  since  Jake  has  interviewed  me; 


196  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

though  I  hope  that  the  feeling  grows  out  of  the  nobler 
sentiment  of  liking  the  young  man  and  wishing  to  help 
him,  rather  than  out  of  the  heathenish  satisfaction  one 
finds  in  seeing  somebody  worse  oif  than  himself." 

"  Who  dare  vouch  for  his  own  motives  ?"  Mitchell 
replied.  "  Cheer  up,  my  friend,  so  far  as  this  case  is 
concerned,  for  I  am  certain  that  in  this  instance  at 
least  the  nobler  motive  prevails  with  you.  I  feel  confi 
dent  of  this  for  two  reasons :  First,  I  draw  my  firm 
conviction  of  this  from  grounds  derived  from  a  long 
and  careful  contemplation  of  your  character ;  secondly, 
because  I  am  far  from  certain  that  the  young  fellow  is 
worse  oif  than  yourself.  You  are  sure  to  find  some 
means  of  helping  him  out  of  his  scrape ;  and  i  if  siller 
'11  dae  it/  as  the  Scotchman  said,  you  may  draw  on  me 
for  any  reasonable  amount ;  I'll  commit  the  decision  as 
to  what  a  reasonable  amount  is  to  your  judgment  and 
also  to  your  conscience.  In  your  own  case,  however, 
the  ditch  into  which  the  ass  has  plunged  headforemost 
is  so  exceedingly  deep  and  wide,  I  doubt  if  you  will 
find  any  one  daring  enough  to  stretch  out  a  helping 
hand." 

"  I  thank  you,  Mitchell,  both  for  your  generosity  to 
Jake  and  your  highly  complimentary  reference  to  my 
self,"  Warren  answered. 

All  preparations  being  now  made,  Warren  took  his 
departure  from  the  camp  and  set  out  upon  his  philan 
thropic  errand,  leaving  Mitchell,  as  he  expressed  it,  to 
keep  Jim  in  good  nature  and  the  house  in  good  order 
until  he  could  return. 

As  he  could  not  arrive  in  Ventura  before  nightfall, 
his  peace-making  errands  were,  perforce,  deferred  until 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  197 

the  next  day  ;  and  as  he  regarded  Mrs.  Elkins  as  the 
more  difficult  as  well  as  the  more  uncomfortable  to 
manage  of  the  two  parties  whom  he  had  come  to  visit, 
he  did  not  wish  to  call  upon  her  until  he  had  learned 
how  his  mission  would  be  received  by  Carballo,  when 
he  would  be  able  to  meet  her  with  some  preconceived 
plan  of  action  in  his  mind,  and  have  the  strategic 
advantage  altogether  with  himself.  As  it  would  serve 
no  good  end  to  meet  her  at  all  until  he  did  so  for  the 
purpose  of  definitely  discussing  Jake's  prospects  and 
ascertaining  positively  what  she  would,  or  would  not, 
do  for  him,  instead  of  going  to  his  rooms  at  her  house, 
he  went  at  once  to  the  H6tel  Anacapa  on  reaching 
town. 

The  next  morning,  without  incurring  any  unneces 
sary  loss  of  time,  Warren  went  out  to  do  the  work  and 
(if  such  a  thing  were  possible  of  accomplishment)  to 
earn  for  himself  the  blessing  of  the  peace-maker. 

It  was  a  task  for  which  he  had  no  relish,  and  in  the 
performance  of  which  he  was  well  aware  there  would 
be  no  pleasure.  He  thoroughly  appreciated  its  deli 
cacy,  and,  fully  realizing  the  truth  of  the  proverb,  "  it 
is  seldom  safe  to  instruct  even  our  friends,"  he  foresaw 
the  difficulty  of  avoiding  the  giving  of  offence  when  he 
attempted  to  advise  the  proud  old  Spaniard  as  to  the 
conduct  he  ought  to  pursue  towards  the  daughter  who 
had  so  bitterly  displeased  him  in  her  choice  of  a 
husband. 

If,  however,  it  were  possible  to  bring  about  a  recon 
ciliation,  Warren  was  peculiarly  well  fitted  for  effecting 
it.  He  was  a  genial  and  whole-souled  young  man, 
pleasant  in  his  manners,  and  he  knew,  no  one  better, 

17* 


198  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

how  to  ply  his  arguments  in  a  pleasant  way  which 
would,  at  the  same  time,  cause  them  to  carry  conviction 
to  the  mind  of  the  listener  from  the  address  with  which 
they  were  put. 

Laying  aside  all  thought  of  his  distaste  for  the  task, 
he  dismounted  before  Carballo's  gate  to  make  his  first 
essay  in  behalf  of  his  friend. 

The  place  was  on  the  outskirts  of  the  rural  city,  and 
the  house  was  a  quaint  combination  of  the  past  and 
the  present,  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  character  of 
its  inhabitants.  The  main  portion  of  the  building  was 
adobe,  the  thick  walls  having  been  surfaced  and  painted 
white ;  the  old  tiled  roof  of  ancient  days  had,  however, 
disappeared,  giving  place  to  modern  shingles ;  and 
although  this  innovation  had  caused  the  house  to  lose 
in  its  romantic  effect,  the  loss  was  more  than  compen 
sated  in  the  estimation  of  its  denizens  by  the  added 
comfort  the  change  had  brought  to  them. 

The  needs  of  the  family  had  long  outgrown  the  pro 
portions  of  the  original  edifice,  so  wings  had  been 
added  from  time  to  time;  these  additions  had,  how 
ever,  been  built  of  wood,  and,  like  the  main  building, 
had  been  painted  white;  and  the  general  result  had 
been  a  long,  low,  rambling  structure,  part  adobe,  part 
wood,  quaint  in  its  appearance,  and  pleasing  from  its 
very  quaintness. 

The  house  was  shaded  by  a  huge  fig-tree,  while  at 
one  side  an  almond  was  waving  its  feathery  leaves  in 
the  soft  and  fragrant  breeze.  The  yard  was  filled  with 
roses  and  other  flowering  shrubs,  while  the  porch  was 
buried  beneath  a  huge  passion-vine.  Back  of  the  house 
was  a  thrifty  walnut-orchard,  while  the  whole  appear- 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  199 

ance  of  the  place  showed  that  it  was  the  home  of  one 
fairly  prosperous,  if  not  possessed  of  absolute  wealth. 

Warren  knocked  at  the  door,  which  was  immedi 
ately  opened  by  an  elderly  man,  who  bade  him  enter 
with  the  polite  courtesy  inherited  from  his  Spanish 
ancestors,  and  cherished  with  the  proud  tenacity  of  de 
votion  with  which  the  Spanish-Americans  of  pure  blood 
and  good  birth  cling  to  all  the  traditions  and  customs 
of  their  old  Castilian  home. 

"  Seflor  Carballo,  I  believe  ?"  said  Warren,  entering 
the  house  in  response  to  the  invitation. 

"  The  same,'7  was  the  reply. 

"  My  name  is  Warren,  and  I  will  say  at  once  that 
no  one  knows  better  than  myself  the  delicacy  of  the 
business  upon  which  I  have  called." 

The  old  gentleman  bowed,  but  made  no  other  re 
sponse,  although  the  serious  expression  that  his  counte 
nance  assumed  upon  hearing  this  showed  his  visitor* 
that  he  at  least  suspected  the  causes  which  had  brought 
about  the  doubtful  pleasure  of  this  call.  Warren, 
seeing  that  he  was  compelled  to  assume  the  initiative, 
plunged  at  once  into  the  midst  of  the  matter,  saying, — 

"  There  is  a  young  man  in  this  place  for  whom  I 
entertain  very  friendly  feelings,  and  it  is  with  the 
deepest  regret  that  I  learn  that  he  has  behaved  in  a 
very  unhandsome  manner  towards  you." 

The  best  of  men  are  weak.  Their  greatest  strength 
is  only  profound  weakness,  after  all ;  and  fond  as  we 
are  of  Warren,  and  as  much  as  we  admire  him  in  the 
main,  we  cannot  altogether  acquit  him  of  the  charge  of 
slight  duplicity  in  the  present  instance.  His  previous 
conversations  with  Jake,  and  the  advice  he  had  then 


200  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

given  him,  could  have  only  one  tendency,  and  that 
was  to  bring  about  this  very  method  of  procedure 
which  his  protege  had  at  last  adopted,  and  which  he 
was  now  describing  as  unhandsome  behavior.  In  his 
heart  he  was  at  this  very  moment  approving  of  what 
Jake  had  done,  in  so  far  as  the  act  itself  was  con 
cerned,  and  he  charged  him  in  his  own  mind  with 
nothing  worse  than  precipitancy  in  marrying  the  girl 
before  he  was  so  situated  that  he  could  take  care  of 
her  himself.  Yet  there  he  sat,  calmly  talking  to 
Jake's  father-in-law  about  the  young  man's  unhand 
some  behavior,  when  he  had  only  done  what  Warren 
himself  would  have  done  under  similar  circumstances, 
and  as  he  had  already  as  good  as  advised  him  to  do. 

Warren  certainly  was  not  ingenuous  in  this,  and  we 
can  only  pardon  him  when  we  remember  how  often 
we  all  of  us  fail  in  this  same  respect ;  when  we  also 
take  into  consideration  what  an  unendurable  place  this 
world  would  be  were  we  all  of  us  at  all  times  perfectly 
frank  and  outspoken,  and  when  we  reflect  upon  the 
ruinous  havoc  it  would  work  in  our  manners  and 
morals  did  we  all  of  us  say,  on  all  occasions,  without 
any  manner  of  disguise  whatever,  exactly  what  we 
think,  and  try  to  show,  without  any  attempt  at  soften 
ing  the  truth,  exactly  what  we  believe. 

The  old  Spaniard's  face  darkened  and  became  almost 
savage  in  its  expression  as  he  replied, — 

"  Ah,  you  mean  young  Elkins ;  he  is  a  villain  !  he 
is  an  unmitigated  scoundrel,  whom  I  would  rejoice  to 
sweep  from  off  the  face  of  the  earth  as  a  reptile  who 
denies  it  by  his  presence.  If  you  call  him  a  friend,  I 
fear  that  your  friends  are  not  always  well  chosen,  senor." 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  201 

Warren  paid  no  attention  to  this  severe  snub,  but 
answered  in  his  pleasantest  tone  and  manner : 

"  I  regret  most  deeply  the  pain  his  indiscretion  has 
caused  you ;  and  I  assure  you  that  you  have  my  deepest 
sympathy  in  this  great  sorrow.  My  acquaintance  with 
him  is,  of  course,  of  the  briefest,  and  consequently  my 
knowledge  of  his  character  is  only  superficial.  The 
language  you  have  used  in  reference  to  him  seems  to 
me  intended  to  warn  me  that  there  is  something  in  his 
past  life  of  which  I  am  still  in  ignorance  that  is  not 
altogether  to  his  credit.  I  should  be  most  grateful  to 
you  if  you  would  admit  me  into  your  confidence  so  far 
as  to  justify  your  bad  opinion  of  the  young  man  to 
me ;  for,  of  course,  I  should  be  most  unwilling  to  be 
friend  any  one  who  is  thoroughly  unworthy  or  who 
has  shown  himself  a  villain.  I,  on  my  part,  will  be 
equally  open  with  you,  and  will  admit  that  I  had 
formed  the  best  opinion  of  the  young  fellow's  character 
and  principles." 

With  these  words  Warren  leaned  over  towards  his 
host,  the  expression  on  his  face  being  that  of  one  who 
was  expecting  to  listen  to  a  tale  of  the  most  harrowing 
enormities  which  would  fall  little,  if  at  all,  short  of 
proving  actual  crimes,  and  who  was  prepared  to  sift  to 
the  bottom  with  a  calm  and  judicial  mind  all  the 
evidence,  pro  and  con,  now  to  be  laid  before  him. 

Seflor  Carballo  was  evidently  staggered  for  a  mo 
ment.  This  method  of  approaching  the  subject  was 
altogether  unfamiliar  to  him,  and  it  was  foreign  to  the 
fiery  temper  and  hot  prejudices  of  his  ardent  and 
impetuous  race.  He  hesitated  for  an  instant,  and 
then,  without  directly  answering  Warren's  question, 


202  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

he  proceeded  to  deal  with  the  case  from  his  own 
stand-point. 

"  Is  not  his  treatment  of  me,  sefior,  the  conduct  of  a 
villain?"  he  sternly  demanded.  "Has  he  not  crept 
into  this  family  nest  like  a  slimy,  poisonous  serpent, 
and  stolen  from  it  the  fairest  of  the  brood  ?  I  have 
nothing  further  to  say ;  and  it  seems  very  clear  to  me 
that  there  is  no  room  here  for  more  words." 

"  Ah,  senor,"  Warren  answered,  his  voice  pathetic 
with  a  sympathy  that  was  not  now  assumed,  for  no 
one  could  see  the  old  man's  evident  suffering  without 
feeling  deeply  for  him, — "ah,  senor,  I  understand 
something  of  your  feelings,  and  believe  me  when  I 
tell  you  that  I  sympathize  deeply  with  you.  But 
there  is  another  side  to  this,  as  to  all  other  questions ; 
and  bear  with  me  when  I  say  that  perhaps  I,  being 
altogether  a  disinterested  party,  can  here  see  the  truth 
more  clearly  than  yourself.  For  you  know  that  where 
we  are  ourselves  deeply  interested,  we  always  feel  keenly, 
and  so  are  not  prepared  to  see  anything  except  as  our 
own  feelings  and  prejudices  color  it." 

"  Say  nothing  to  me  about  that  wretch,  senor,  I  will 
hear  nothing  of  him,"  Carballo  angrily  interposed. 

Warren  at  once  made  haste  to  calm  his  anger  by 
replying,— 

"  You  mistake  my  meaning,  for  I  did  not  intend  to 
present  his  case,  but  that  of  your  daughter.  She  is  a 
lovely  girl,  whom  I  both  know  and  admire,  and  I  can 
readily  believe  that  she  merits  the  graceful  name  you 
have  given  her  in  calling  her  the  fairest  of  the  home 
brood. 

"  Now,  you  must  remember,  sefior,  that  she  has  met 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  203 

a  young  man  of  good  family,  fair  present  prospects, 
and  who  is  also,  as  you  admit,  beyond  reproach  in  his 
character.  These  two  young  people  became  devotedly 
in  love  with  one  another ;  and  where  there  is  perfect 
love  between  two  young  people,  with  no  objection 
which  can  reasonably  be  raised  against  either  one  of 
them,  and,  moreover,  when  the  young  man  can  offer 
the  lady  of  his  choice  a  life  of  comfort,  and  even  the 
enjoyment  of  wealth,  is  their  marriage  a  wrong  ?" 

"  It  is,  by  the  saints !  for  I  forbade  my  daughter 
even  to  think  of  him,"  Carballo  replied,  fury  in  his 
tone  and  on  his  face. 

Jake's  father-in-law  was  unreasonable,  beyond  any 
question,  and  it  was  a  sore  trial  to  Warren's  patience 
to  deal  with  him ;  but  nothing  would  be  gained  were 
he  also  to  lose  temper,  while  any  betrayal  of  ruffled 
spirits  on  his  part  would  only  increase  the  anger  of  his 
hot-tempered  companion  and  spoil  everything.  So, 
restraining  his  impatience  by  an  effort,  Warren  once 
more  applied  himself  to  the  task  before  him,  saying, — 

"  So  many  years  have  not  as  yet  rolled  over  your 
own  head  that  you  should  have  altogether  forgotten 
the  days  of  your  courtship."  (The  old  man  was  seventy 
if  he  wras  a  day.) 

"  When  people  are  in  love  they  cannot  keep  their 
thoughts  under  control,  and  they  cannot  think  and  feel 
as  their  parents  command.  You  should  make  allow 
ance  accordingly,  sefior." 

His  host  was  softened  towards  him  slightly  by  the 
reference  to  his  youthful  appearance ;  and,  smiling  a 
very  little,  he  abruptly  asked, — 

"  Are  you  a  married  man  ?" 


204  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

"JSTo,"  Warren  replied. 

"But  you  must  be  '  engaged/  then,  as  you  Americans 
say  ?"  Carballo  insisted. 

Warren  blushed  slightly  as  he  answered,  "No,  I 
am  not  even  ( engaged/"  at  the  same  time  hoping 
that  the  old  gentleman  would  press  his  inquiries  no 
further. 

This  mercy  was  shown  him,  Carballo  merely  saying, 
in  reply  to  Warren's  last  answer, — 

"Pardon  me,  but  I  thought  so  ardent  and  so  elo 
quent  an  advocate  of  the  '  tender  passion' — I  believe 
that  is  your  American  phrase,  is  it  not  ? — must  have 
had  an  experience  in  it  himself,  and  would  at  least 
prove  to  be  a  lover.  Go  on,  you  interest  me." 

Warren  winced  at  this  home  thrust,  but  returned  no 
answer;  he  blushed  deeply,  however,  as  he  resumed 
his  argument,  saying, — 

"  You  must  remember,  sefior,  that  your  daughter's 
happiness  depends  upon  your  action.  Had  she,  in  the 
first  place,  listened  to  you  and  dismissed  her  lover, 
this  would  have  affected  her  whole  future.  If  you  now 
persist  in  refusing  to  receive  her  into  favor  again,  you 
cause  her  a  life-long  unhappiness.  Had  she  married 
unworthily,  the  whole  affair  would,  of  course,  wear  a 
different  aspect  and  my  arguments  would  be  worthless ; 
but  since  you  yourself  admit  that  your  daughter's  hus 
band  is  a  worthy  young  man,  and  that  your  objection 
to  him  rests  only  upon  the  simple  fact  that  you  per 
sonally  dislike  him,  can  you  hope  to  confidently  face 
your  Maker  at  the  last  day,  and  say  that  you  have 
faithfully  fulfilled  your  duties  as  a  parent,  if  you  per 
sist  in  your  present  mind  ?" 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  205 

Like  all  high-caste  Spaniards,  Carballo  was  pro 
foundly  influenced  by  his  religious  instincts,  and  this 
appeal  to  conscience  and  religion  accomplished  more 
for  Warren  in  effecting  the  reconciliation  he  was  en 
deavoring  to  bring  about  than  had  been  done  by  all 
the  arguments  he  had  hitherto  employed ;  and  seeing 
by  the  changing  expression  on  the  old  gentleman's  face 
the  weight  his  last  words  had  carried  with  them,  he  at 
once  pressed  his  point  warmly. 

"  I  am  not  alone  in  my  opinion,  sefior,"  he  resumed. 
"  Had  not  the  padre  looked  upon  the  case  in  the  same 
light  in  which  I  view  it,  do  you  think  that  he  would 
have  married  them  without  your  consent  ?" 

"  Ah,  he  was  too  hasty,  he  was  too  hasty.  In  that 
he  did  me  great  wrong,"  Carballo  answered,  rising  and 
walking  up  and  down  the  room.  Then,  stopping  in 
front  of  Warren,  he  said, — 

"  You  would  have  me  take  in  these  two  young  fools 
and  support  them,  I  doubt  not.  My  fascinating  son- 
in-law  has  no  means  of  his  own ;  and  you  would  have 
me  care  for  them  and  their  children,  if  they  have  them, 
until  the  course  of  nature  causes  him  to  inherit  his 
mother's  fortune.  I  have  stated  your  idea,  have  I  not  ?" 

Carballo's  tone  was  bitter  enough,  certainly,  and  his 
manner  was  far  removed  from  Warren's  idea  of  a  pro 
pitiated  bearing ;  but  he  felt  that  the  old  man  had 
sufficient  cause  to  feel  aggrieved,  and  it  was  only  nat 
ural  that  some  of  his  anger  should  fall  upon  a  visitor 
who  confessed  that  he  was  a  friend  and  partisan  of  the 
young  runaways,  and  who  acknowledged  that  he  had 
called  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  espouse  their  cause 
and  plead  for  their  forgiveness. 

18 


206  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

Then,  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility  for  Jake's 
conduct  made  him  feel  as  though  he  were  to  a  certain 
extent  an  abettor  of  his  wrong-doing ;  and  that  what 
ever  annoyance  he  was  now  experiencing  descended 
upon  a  head  not  altogether  free  from  guilt  as  a  well- 
merited  punishment.  So,  without  answering  either  the 
spirit  or  the  word  of  Carballo's  question,  he  proceeded 
to  frankly  explain  his  ideas  as  to  the  future  of  the 
young  couple. 

"  No,"  he  began,  "  I  do  not  think  that  either  you  or 
any  one  else  should  support  them.  Jake  should  be  able 
to  care  for  his  own  wife  and  family,  if  he  have  one, 
and  you  will  find  that  he  will  do  so.  There  is  a  nice 
ranch  down  by  the  Santa  Clara  River, — the  Potter 
place,  you  know  it.  His  mother  will  give  this  to  him 
as  a  wedding-present ;  so  you  need  feel  no  anxiety  as 
to  his  future.  If  this  is  all  that  is  causing  you  uneasi 
ness,  you  may  lay  aside  both  your  anger  and  your 
alarm." 

Carballo  turned  suddenly  towards  his  guest  with  a 
gesture  of  amazement  and  incredulity  upon  hearing 
these  words. 

"  You  say  that  this  young  man's  mother  will  give 
him  the  Potter  place?" 

"I  do." 

"  Pardon  me,  sefior,  but  she  has  not  the  reputation 
for  so  great  generosity.  Will  you  tell  me  your  grounds 
for  this  belief?" 

This  Warren  by  no  means  felt  ready  to  do.  In  fact, 
as  his  assertion  was  based  upon  his  own  powers  of  per 
suasion  and  influence  with  the  lady,  he  felt  that  it 
would  be  altogether  premature  to  make  any  further 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  207 

revelations.  But  in  case  he  should  fail  in  this  quarter, 
as  he  was  prepared  to  make  good  his  words  at  his  own 
expense  together  with  the  offer  Mitchell  had  made  him 
in  Jake's  behalf,  he  did  not  recede  a  particle  from  the 
position  he  had  taken. 

"  Pardon  me,  sefior,  but  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  say 
more  at  present,"  he  replied.  "But  believe  me,  I 
know  what  I  say  when  I  assure  you  that  inside  of 
forty-eight  hours  from  now  the  deeds  will  be  drawn 
and  recorded, — unless  you  interfere  to  prevent  it ;  and 
it  would  give  me  great  pleasure  to  take  back  to  the 
bride  the  message  of  her  father's  affection  and  forgive 
ness  as  well  as  the  title  to  her  new  home." 

The  old  gentleman  paced  back  and  forth  through  the 
room  for  several  moments,  wrapped  in  the  deepest 
thought.  At  last  he  once  more  stopped  before  Warren, 
and,  looking  sharply  in  his  face,  he  said, — 

"If  your  words  are  made  good,  and  I  find  that 
Elkins  does  become  the  owner  of  this  ranch,  my 
daughter  and  her  husband  shall  be  welcome  to  my 
house.  You  may  assure  her  of  this,  but  be  sure  that 
you  remember  the  terms.  As  for  him,  I  do  not 
promise  him  the  love  of  a  father,  but  he  will  be  cour 
teously  received  whenever  he  may  choose  to  come." 

Warren  rose,  and  after  assuring  the  old  man  of  the 
pleasure  it  would  be  to  him  to  carry  to  his  daughter 
this  pledge  of  reconciliation,  he  took  his  leave. 

"  Well,  I  have  gotten  so  much  off  my  hands,"  he 
said  to  himself  as  he  mounted  his  horse.  "Now  for 
Mother  Elkins,  and  I  hardly  know  whether  to  think 
that  the  worst  or  the  easiest  part  of  this  business  is  now 
before  me." 


208  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

He  found  that  estimable  lady,  as  usual,  overwhelmed 
with  cares  and  driven  almost  to  her  death  by  the 
work  which,  for  some  reason,  never  was  accomplished, 
and  which  every  one  except  herself  well  knew  never 
would  be. 

"  Bless  me,  Mr.  Warren,  where  did  you  drop  from  ? 
I  didn't  expect  to  see  you  again  for  six  weeks  at  least," 
she  exclaimed,  as  he  entered  the  house.  Seating  him 
self  on  the  lounge  he  pointed  to  a  chair,  saying, — 

"  Sit  down,  Mother  Elkins,  I  want  to  talk  to  you." 

"  Mother  Elkins,  indeed  !  What  do  you  mean  by 
talking  to  me  in  that  style  ?"  she  exclaimed,  complying 
with  his  request  at  the  same  time. 

"  I  mean  that  you'll  have  to  adopt  me  in  the  place 
of  that  scapegrace  boy  of  your  own.  And,  by  the  way, 
speaking  of  him,  I  saw  him  and  his  bride  yesterday. 
What  a  right  pretty  girl  she  is,  isn't  she  ?  I  wish  I 
could  have  got  in  ahead  of  him.  Do  you  know  her 
well?" 

The  flax  was  now  all  in  a  flame. 

"  Know  her  !  I  should  say  I  did  !  The  brazen  little 
baggage !  I  wish  I  could  give  her  the  trouncing  she 
deserves." 

This  was  what  Warren  had  expected ;  and,  to  tell 
the  truth,  he  had  intended  to  bring  about  this,  or  some 
similar  outbreak.  Now  he  determined  to  make  short 
work  of  the  business  and  he  went  to  the  pith  of  the 
matter  at  once. 

"See  here,  Mrs.  Elkins,"  he  said,  very  quietly  but 
none  the  less  emphatically.  "I  know  you,  and  for 
that  reason  I  know  that  your  bark  is  a  good  deal 
worse  than  your  bite.  As  for  Jake's  marriage,  the 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  209 

thing  is  done  now  and  over  with ;  so  it  is  in  very  bad 
taste  for  you  to  make  all  this  fuss  about  it ;  and  the 
sooner  you  realize  that  your  scolding  won't  affect 
matters  the  least  in  the  world,  the  happier  you  will  be. 
Now,  keep  your  temper  while  I  tell  you  just  what  I 
think. 

"My  candid  opinion  now,  and  so  it  has  been  all 
along,  is  that  you  and  Carballo  have  been  very  foolish 
about  this  love-affair.  You  can't  keep  up  race  preju 
dices  in  this  country  ;  our  institutions  and  customs  all 
prevent  it.  You  are  both  of  you  Americans,  and  the 
fact  that  your  great-grandfather  came  from  England 
and  his  from  Spain  don't  make  either  one  of  you  the 
less  American,  and  the  younger  generation  will  find 
this  out  even  if  you  are  too  obstinate  to  do  so.  Now, 
all  you  can  do  is  to  make  the  best  of  this  fact ;  and  I 
am  going  right  on  from  this  text  to  give  you  a  little 
more  plain  talk  which  it  won't  do  you  the  least  good 
in  the  world  to  get  cross  over. 

"  You  haven't  done  right  by  the  boy ;  you  haven't 
brought  him  up  properly  ;  you  should  have  had  him 
earn  his  own  living,  and  you  should  have  taught  him 
to  be  a  man,  and  like  other  men  to  become  manly.  I 
have  felt  this  strongly  ever  since  I  first  knew  him, 
and  I  have  been  all  along  trying  to  find  an  opening 
for  him,  which  I  should  have  done  before  this  had  I 
not  had  bad  luck  myself.  But  that  is  neither  here  nor 
there  :  if  you  had  only  done  your  duty  by  him  he 
would  have  turned  out  a  fine,  manly  young  fellow,  in 
stead  of  growing  up  the  great  hobbledehoy  he  is." 

Mrs.  Elkins  did  not  heed  his  warning,  and,  use  or 
no  use,  she  became  very  angry  with  him.  No  mother 
o  18* 


210  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

relishes  being  told  that  she  has  failed  to  do  her  duty 
by  her  children.  Neither,  even  though  she  is  angry 
with  them  herself,  does  she  enjoy  hearing  other  people 
criticise  them  or  call  them  names ;  while  it  is  especially 
galling  to  the  mother  of  an  only  son,  whom  she  de 
votedly  loves  and  of  whom  she  is  excessively  proud, 
to  hear  him  designated  by  so  uncomplimentary  an 
epithet  as  hobbledehoy.  Mrs.  El  kins  accordingly 
waxed  exceeding  wroth  at  Warren's  language  and 
proceeded  to  unbosom  herself  at  once. 

"  Upon  my  word,  Mr.  Warren,  you  are  extremely 
polite  this  morning,"  she  exclaimed,  hotly.  "And  I 
never  in  my  life  saw  an  old  bachelor,  or  an  old  maid 
either,  for  that  matter,  who  didn't  have  the  whole 
science  of  bringing  up  other  people's  children  at  their 
tongue's  end.  I'm  sure  it's  a  thousand  pities  that 
you  are  not  married,  and  I  hope  you  will  be  before 
long,  and  that  you  will  have  a  dozen  children,  too, 
whom  you  can  hold  up  as  models  for  the  world  to 
profit  by.  It  will  be  a  misfortune  beyond  repair  if 
such  an  example  of  paternal  wisdom  as  you  give 
promise  of  becoming  is  lost  to  the  world." 

Warren  laughed  heartily  at  this  outburst  of  temper. 
He  had  been  hoping  that  he  might  succeed  in  bringing 
down  her  wrath  upon  his  own  head,  as  being  the  surest 
means  of  dispelling  the  cloud  of  disfavor  at  present 
overshadowing  Jake  and  his  bride.  Having  gained  his 
point  in  this  respect,  he  now  lost  no  time  in  bringing 
matters  to  a  crisis. 

"  Gently,  gently,"  he  answered.  "  I  told  you  in  the 
first  place  that  there  was  no  manner  of  use  in  your 
losing  your  temper  with  me,  and  you  forget  my  warn- 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A    BOOM.  211 

ing  as  soon  as  I  have  given  it.  Now  let  us  discuss 
this  business  in  a  reasonable  way  and  like  reasonable 
beings.  I  have  just  come  from  Carballo's." 

"You  have,  have  you?  Well,  what  does  the  old 
Greaser  say  for  himself?"  she  asked,  spitefully. 

"  Now  don't  let  your  angry  passions  rise  again,  and, 
above  all  things,  don't  call  names ;  that  is  shockingly 
weak,"  Warren  answered,  with  aggravating  calmness. 
"  I  found  him  a  very  estimable,  a  very  polite,  and,  I 
can  truthfully  add,  a  very  polished  gentleman.  As  for 
what  he  said,  he  was  angry  about  the  elopement,  of 
course ;  but  I  found  him  amenable  to  reason,  and  he 
promised  me  that  he  would  forgive  the  young  run 
aways,  and  that  he  would  take  Jake  into  favor.  He 
would  not  promise  to  love  him  as  a  son  all  at  once, 
neither  was  I  able  to  induce  him  to  consent  to  bestow 
upon  him  the  affection  of  a  brother,  even,  as  yet ;  but 
we  must  not  expect  too  much  at  first ;  it  will  all  come 
right  in  time." 

Mrs.  Elkins  looked  very  much  surprised  at  this 
news,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  she  did  not  seem 
to  be  altogether  rejoiced  at  hearing  it.  Her  own  oppo 
sition  to  the  match  had  been  provoked  in  the  first  place 
by  the  hostility  of  Carballo,  and  it  had  by  this  time 
become  almost  a  point  of  conscience  with  her  to  regard 
the  family  as  "  foreigners,"  and  to  look  upon  them  as 
being,  for  that  reason,  altogether  beneath  contempt; 
and  now  to  be  told  that  everything  was  smooth  in  this 
quarter,  and  that  she  alone  was  playing  the  part  of  the 
cruel  parent,  was  certainly  a  heavy  blow ;  for  no  one 
enjoys  finding  a  cherished  grievance  demolished  so 
effectually  and  so  altogether  without  warning. 


212  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

She  returned  no  answer,  however,  but  only  replied 
by  a  grunt  which  she  meant  to  be  expressive  of  the 
deepest  indignation  and  contempt. 

"  To  equal  his  good-natured  complacency,  I  made  a 
promise  in  your  name,"  Warren  added. 

"  Oh,  you  did,  did  you  ?  I'm  sure  I  ought  to  be 
much  obliged  for  your  though tfulness ;  but  I  ain't,  all 
the  same.  What  promise  did  you  so  kindly  make  in 
my  name  ?" 

"  I  promised,  in  the  first  place,  that  you  would  be 
as  considerate  to  the  young  people  as  he  had  shown 
himself.  Then,  in  the  second  place,  as  I  saw  that  the 
old  gentleman  seemed  very  anxious  about  the  support 
of  these  two  young  people,  I  told  him  that  you  would 
see  that  they  were  made  able  to  take  care  of  them 
selves,  and  that  you  would  give  Jake  as  his  own 
property  that  fine  ranch  known  as  the  Potter  place," 
Warren  answered,  in  his  blandest  tone  and  most  in 
sinuating  manner. 

It  was  well  for  him  that  he  did  not  hold  his  land 
lady  or  her  tongue  in  the  least  fear,  for  her  anger  now 
blazed  forth  and  burned  hotly  against  him. 

"  Well,  I'm  sure  !"  she  exclaimed,  fairly  gasping  for 
breath  in  her  surprise  and  anger.  "  Of  all  the  cool 
assurance  I  ever  knew,  and  you  less  than  six  months 
ago  a  perfect  stranger  !  I  have  as  good  a  mind  as  ever 
I  had  to  do  anything  to  turn  you  out  of  my  house  on 
to  the  sidewalk  and  throw  your  traps  after  you,  and 
never  let  you  darken  my  doors  again.  The  idea  of 
your  daring  to  promise  away  thousands  of  dollars  in 
that  style  right  out  of  my  pocket !  Did  any  one  ever 
hear  of  such  brazen  assurance  !  Of  course  you  are  not 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  213 

crazy  enough  to  expect  me  to  make  such  a  promise 
good?'7 

"  Eight  thousand  dollars  is  what  I  pledged  you  for/7 
Warren  replied,  as  sweetly  as  before,  not  in  the  least 
moved  by  her  anger.  "  I  happen  to  know  the  price  to 
a  cent,  as  the  property  is  in  our  hands  for  sale.  As  to 
making  my  words  good,  that  is  for  you  to  decide ;  I 
can't  answer  that  question  for  you.  It  is  only  right, 
fair,  and  just  to  Jake  that  he  should  have  a  start  in 
life  and  be  given  a  fair  chance  for  making  his  own 
way  in  the  world.  As  you  can  well  afford  to  do  this 
for  him,  I  had  no  scruples  about  making  a  promise  in 
your  name  that  you  would  deal  justly  by  your  own 
son.  If,  however,  you  do  not  feel  disposed  to  act  in 
this  manner  towards  him,  Jake  shall  not  suffer  in  any 
case;  for  my  friend  Mr.  Mitchell  has  promised  me 
that  he  will  join  me  in  purchasing  the  place  for  him, 
and  we  will  let  him  pay  us  back  by  instalments  as  he 
is  able.  You  see  that  we  believe  in  him,  even  if  you 
don't/7  he  added,  as  he  rose  to  go. 

"  Don't  fly  off  in  that  style/7  she .  answered ;  "  sit 
down  and  give  a  body  a  chance  to  think,  can7t 
you?'7 

Warren  laughed  as  he  complied  with  her  request,  not 
forgetting  to  remind  her  that  she  was  the  one  who  had 
done  all  the  flying. 

"Well,"  she  said,  after  some  further  discussion, 
during  w^hich  she  had  been  driven  from  one  defence  to 
another,  all  of  which  she  had  adopted  so  as  not  to 
appear  to  yield  too  readily,  "you  and  that  Mr. 
Mitchell,  there,  have  got  me  into  a  corner,  and  you 
knew  all  along  that  you  could  do  anything  you  chose 


214  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

with  me;  for  of  course  I  cannot  have  folks  saying 
that  I  was  so  stingy  that  I  let  strangers  take  care 
of  my  son  rather  than  do  it  myself.  Go  down  to 
your  office  and  draw  up  the  deeds,  and  I  will  give 
you  a  check  for  the  money  when  you  bring  them  up 
to  me." 

Warren  thanked  her  in  the  name  of  Jake  and  his 
bride,  congratulated  her  upon  the  possession  of  so 
pretty  and  lovable  a  daughter,  and  left  her  restored 
to  good  nature,  while  he  went  down  to  his  office  with 
the  comfortable  feeling  that  he  had  performed  a  good 
deed  in  a  very  good  manner. 

He  pictured  to  himself  the  delight  with  which  his 
proteges  would  receive  the  news  that  peace  was  at  last 
established  between  the  two  families  now  so  closely  and 
intimately  connected.  He  could  already,  in  imagina 
tion,  see  Camilla's  bright  eyes  sparkle  with  increased 
brilliancy  at  the  news  that  now  she  was  the  mistress 
of  a  pretty  home  of  her  own.  But  it  is,  for  some  wise 
reason,  ordained  that  no  one  shall  know  a  long  con 
tinuance  of  untroubled  happiness  in  this  world,  and 
Warren's  pleasant  emotions  were,  on  this  occasion,  ex 
ceedingly  short-lived.  Perhaps  it  might  have  been  so 
ordered  to  prevent  the  growth  of  self-satisfaction  in  his 
spirit ;  perhaps  it  was  for  some  other  reason ;  but  be 
this  as  it  may,  his  comfortable  feelings  lasted  only  the 
few  moments  required  to  ride  from  Mrs.  Elkins's  house 
to  his  office,  where  he  found  Glenn,  who  greeted  him 
with, — 

"  Glad  to  see  you,  Warren ;  I  was  just  going  to  send 
up  after  you.  It's  lucky  you  are  down.  Come  in 
here." 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  215 

Together  they  disappeared  within  the  mysterious 
precincts  of  their  private  office,  from  which  Warren 
emerged  in  half  an  hour  with  a  very  anxious  face,  for 
the  purpose  of  writing  a  note  which  he  forthwith  for 
warded  to  Mitchell,  informing  him  that  he  was  de 
tained  by  business  and  could  not  return  to  camp  in 
less  than  a  fortnight  at  the  shortest  limit. 


CHAPTEE  XIV. 

THE  change  in  Warren's  plans  brought  about  by 
the  imperious  demands  of  business  produced  a  general 
readjustment  of  existing  arrangements  in  our  little 
circle  of  friends. 

The  note  which  he  despatched  to  Mitchell,  inform 
ing  him  of  the  inevitable  postponement  of  his  return 
for  a  fortnight  at  least,  was  received  by  that  worthy 
individual  in  his  characteristic  manner.  The  rule  by 
which  he  guided  his  life  was,  to  permit  nothing  to 
ever  disturb  him  in  the  least;  and  acting  always  in 
strict  accordance  with  this  rule,  he  would  permit  noth 
ing  less  than  a  cataclysm  in  his  domestic  affairs,  or  an 
entire  revolution  in  mundane  matters,  at  least  in  so  far 
as  the  last  of  these  affected  him,  to  either  hasten  his 
goings  or  delay  his  comings  one  hour  from  the  time  he 
had  originally  planned. 

When  Warren's  note  reached  him  he  was  not  dis 
turbed  in  any  way,  not  even  put  out;  but,  calmly 
sitting  down,  he  wrote  at  once  to  his  wife,  requesting 
that  she  and  Mollie  join  him  in  the  Matilija.  He  told 
them  that  the  baby  need  be  no  impediment,  for  the 
nurse  could  come  with  them;  and  then  if,  on  trial, 
camping  with  a  baby  should  prove  to  have  drawbacks 
too  great  to  be  overcome,  the  hotel  was  not  a  great  dis 
tance  from  them,  and  they  could  transfer  their  head 
quarters  to  that.  As  for  himself,  he  said  that  he  had 
no  intention  at  all  of  returning  under  the  six  weeks  for 
216 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  217 

which  he  had  originally  set  out ;  but  he  found  it  far 
from  pleasant  up  there  in  the  canon  all  alone,  and  he 
besought  them  to  have  mercy  on  him  in  his  present 
widowed  and  orphaned  condition,  and  to  come  to  his 
relief. 

At  the  same  time  that  he  sent  this  letter  to  his  wife 
he  despatched  Jim  to  provide  another  tent  and  camping 
outfit  for  the  ladies,  in  order  that  they  might  find 
everything  ready  for  them  on  their  arrival. 

This  characteristic  letter  was  received  with  great 
merriment  by  Mrs.  Mitchell  and  her  sister,  but  they 
consented  at  once  to  meet  the  wishes  of  its  writer. 
Mollie  decided  that  it  would  be  "  great  fun,"  and  pre 
tended  to  feel  very  much  aggrieved  because  they  had 
not  been  included  in  the  party  in  the  first  place,  and 
were  now  made  welcome  only  as  a  last  resort.  Mrs. 
Mitchell  by  no  means  looked  upon  the  expedition 
with  such  favor.  She  had  been  long  enough  now  in 
California  to  know  that,  being  summer,  as  there  would 
be  no  rain,  there  could  be  no  exposure ;  still,  with  a 
child  to  care  for,  she  preferred  more  elaborate  house 
keeping  arrangements  than  would  be  possible  for  her 
with  two  tents  and  an  oak-tree  for  her  domicile.  She 
yielded  her  own  wishes,  however,  to  those  of  her  hus 
band  and  her  sister,  simply  saying  that  as  she  con 
sented  to  the  plan  to  please  them,  they  must  share  with 
her  the  care  of  the  child  and  all  the  trouble  that  he 
might  cause. 

The  first  week  passed  merrily  and  pleasantly  away. 

Early  in  the  second  week  a  letter  came  from  Warren, 

which  Jim  handed  to  Mitchell  while  they  were  still 

seated  at  dinner,  in  which  he  told  his  friend  the  news 

K  19 


218  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

of  himself  and  his  affairs  up  to  date,  and  informing 
him  that  he  should  return  the  next  day.  He  took 
pains,  however,  to  assure  them  that  his  advent  need 
cause  no  disturbance  in  the  little  family  party  which 
had  so  happily  gathered  under  the  oak  since  his  de 
parture,  as  he,  for  his  part,  would  be  most  heartily 
glad  to  welcome  the  ladies,  and  pledging  his  honor  as 
a  bachelor  that  he  would  bear  without  a  murmur  any 
disturbance  that  his  namesake  might  create. 

But  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts  to  appear  cheerful,  it 
was  far  from  reading  like  a  happy  letter.  It  is  hard 
for  a  man,  after  witnessing  the  downfall  of  his  fortunes, 
to  be  possessed  of  high  spirits,  or  to  put  his  thoughts 
on  paper  in  such  a  way  that  his  correspondent  will  be 
induced  to  believe  that  he  has  written  in  a  joyous 
mood.  The  attempt  is  as  natural,  and  it  results  in  as 
close  an  imitation  of  reality,  as  the  cheerfulness  which 
the  Roman  emperors  and  their  estimable  modern  imi 
tators,  the  French  revolutionists,  compelled  the  families 
of  their  victims  to  assume  as  good  citizens,  because 
their  domestic  bereavement  had  resulted  in  the  welfare 
of  the  state.  Mitchell  read  his  letter  to  the  end  with  a 
countenance  unusually  sober.  After  finishing  it  he 
looked  up,  still  holding  it  open  before  him,  saying, — 

"  Girls,  this  is  from  Warren.  He  will  be  with  us 
to-morrow." 

Mollie  looked  down  at  her  plate  and  said  nothing. 
Mrs.  Mitchell,  however,  answered  at  once,  and  rather 
sharply,  "  We  have  received  decidedly  short  notice,  for 
of  course  he  will  want  us  and  the  child  away." 

"Not  at  all.  He  could  hardly  ask  that,  knowing 
that  I  sent  for  you  after  he  had  abandoned  me ;  and  he 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  219 

tells  me  to  urge  you  to  stay  in  case  you  should  express 
any  intention  of  leaving.  I  know  that  he  is  sincere  in 
this,  for  the  tone  of  the  poor  fellow's  letter  shows  very 
plainly  that  he  is  in  need  of  the  sympathy  of  cheerful 
and  congenial  friends." 

Mollie  was  still  silent,  but  she  looked  up  quickly  at 
'this,  her  features  showing  how  profoundly  interested 
she  was  in  the  conversation,  while  they  also  told  that 
she  was  disposed  to  be  one  of  the  sympathetic  friends 
of  whom  her  brother-in-law  had  said  his  friend  was  now 
so  sorely  in  need ;  and  again  her  sister  was  the  only  one 
who  made  reply,  and  this  time,  noticing  her  husband's 
serious  expression,  she  became  impressed  by  the  fact 
that  something  more  than  usually  serious  must  be  the 
matter ;  and,  in  expectation  of  hearing  bad  news,  she 
asked,  anxiously, — 

"  What  does  he  say  ?  I  hope  there  is  nothing  wrong 
with  him." 

"  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  things  are  altogether  wrong 
with  him ;  and  although  nothing  has  happened  beyond 
what  I  have  been  expecting  all  along,  yet  I  feel  just  as 
sorry  for  him  now  that  the  blow  has  actually  fallen  as 
though  it  had  been  wholly  unexpected.  That  Oakdale 
business  has  fallen  flat  at  last ;  and  although  he  doesn't 
say  much  about  it,  it  is  what  he  fails  to  say  that  im 
presses  me." 

The  Oakdale  boom  had  burst;  such  was  the  un 
happy  truth.  And,  as  you  have  undoubtedly  sus 
pected  all  along,  this  unfortunate  failure  of  the  Oak- 
dale  Land  and  Water  Company  was  the  business 
which  had  detained  Warren  so  long  in  town  busily 
engaged  in  the  attempt  to  save  as  much  as  possible  of 


220  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

the  money  embarked   in   this   rash   and   unfortunate 
speculation. 

The  aboom"  was  dead  throughout  the  whole  of 
Southern  California,  and  it  was  already  in  its  death- 
throes  when  the  scheme  was  first  floated,  had  its  pro 
jectors  only  known  it ;  or,  rather,  had  they  only  been 
frank  enough  with  themselves  and  others  to  recognize 
the  fact  and  admit  it.  With  the  collapse  of  this  specu 
lative  mania,  which  passed  away  as  suddenly  as  it  had 
come,  all  call  for  such  property  as  the  Oakdale  Com 
pany  placed  on  the  market  (which  was  at  the  best 
nothing  but  lots  in  a  mushroom  town,  where  no  one 
wanted  to  build,  and  which  were  bought  with  no  idea 
of  building  on  them  on  the  part  of  the  purchasers)  had 
also  passed  away.  There  was  no  present  market ;  there 
was  no  prospect  of  selling  more  lots  than  had  already 
been  disposed  of  either  in  the  near  or  remote  future. 
Whether  there  would  ever  again  be  an  opportunity  of 
disposing  of  this  property  was  more  than  any  man 
could  tell. 

Meanwhile,  it  was  a  tremendous  expense  to  the  little 
company  to  hold  the  tract,  for  it  had  been  bought  by 
them  during  the  wildest  days  of  the  great  land-craze 
at  the  high  figures  which  all  real  estate  then  reached, 
and  at  which  they  were  held  for  a  short  period.  Only 
a  portion  of  the  tract  had  been  wholly  paid  for,  the 
remainder  being  bought  on  credit  in  the  hope  that 
speedy  sales  of  town  lots  at  "  boom"  prices  would  en 
able  them  to  pay  all  indebtedness  on  the  land,  together 
with  the  expense  of  its  improvement,  and  at  the  same 
time  leave  them  a  handsome  profit. 

This  hope  the  failure  of  the  Great  Oakdale  Land 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  221 

Sale  had  proved  to  be  fallacious.  The  expiration  of 
the  time  for  meeting  the  last  payment,  coming  so  soon 
after  this  disastrous  auction,  brought  the  company  face 
to  face  with  the  problem,  What  is  now  to  be  done  ? 
Shall  the  company  fail  to  meet  this  payment,  forfeit 
the  portion  of  the  tract  held  on  contract,  sacrificing  the 
payments  already  made  as  well  as  the  money  expended 
in  improvements,  or,  would  it  be  wiser  for  them  to  raise 
the  money  needed  to  complete  the  payment  and  hold  the 
entire  tract  ? 

In  one  way  or  another  these  questions  must  be 
answered,  and  at  once.  Glenn  was  anxious  that  the 
company  should  adopt  some  plan  for  raising  the  round 
sum  still  needed  for  completing  the  payment,  and  that 
the  tract  should  be  held  for  the  brighter  times  which 
he  prophesied  would  shortly  dawn  for  them.  His 
partners  were  also  anxious  to  retain  the  property, 
if  it  were  possible,  for  no  one  likes  to  sacrifice  his 
money  and  see  it  go  from  him  bringing  no  return ; 
while  the  worst  sensation  of  all  is  the  chilling  knowl 
edge  that  he  has  deliberately  thrown  away  some  thou 
sands  of  dollars.  But  the  raising  of  the  necessary 
amount  was  in  itself  a  difficulty  which  gave  promise, 
from  the  first  suggestion  of  the  idea,  of  being  insuperable. 

Two  courses  were  possible  of  adoption,  and  only  two. 
The  one  was,  to  increase  the  company  by  taking  in  new 
stockholders ;  the  other  was,  to  assess  the  present  stock 
holders  an  amount  sufficient  to  clear  off  all  indebtedness 
on  the  property,  together  with  the  interest,  which  had 
now  become  due. 

The  first  of  these  plans  was  at  once  dismissed,  for  no 
one  could  be  found  who  would  embark  his  money  in  a 


222  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

scheme  which  was  universally  considered  a  losing  in 
vestment.  The  second  was  impracticable,  for  all  the 
stockholders,  with  the  single  exception  of  Glenn,  who 
had  no  money  to  invest,  positively  refused  to  risk 
another  dollar  in  the  enterprise.  Much  as  they  re 
gretted  losing  their  money,  they  all  agreed  that  it  was 
better  to  let  go  what  was  already  at  stake  than  to 
increase  losses  which  were  already  heavy ;  while 
Warren  declared  that,  for  his  part,  as  he  had  already 
brought  himself  to  the  verge  of  ruin,  he  did  not  pro 
pose  to  go  on  and  complete  the  destruction  of  his 
fortunes  by  stripping  himself  of  the  little  he  now  had 
left. 

It  was  at  the  close  of  this  meeting,  which  had  finally 
decided  the  fate  of  the  Oakdale  Company,  and  whose 
action  had  conclusively  determined  that  Oakdale,  not 
withstanding  the  brilliant  future  which  the  gifted  auc 
tioneer  from  Los  Angeles  had  predicted  for  it,  was 
never  to  be  numbered  among  the  actually  existing 
towns  of  California,  that  Warren  wrote  to  Mitchell  to 
inform  him  of  the  downfall  of  this  great  air-castle, 
whose  collapse,  with  the  various  causes  which  finally 
compassed  its  destruction,  Mitchell  explained  to  the 
ladies  at  even  greater  length  than  they  have  been 
inflicted  upon  the  reader. 

"I  hope  this  failure  has  not  ruined  him,"  Mrs. 
Mitchell  remarked,  after  the  usual  feminine  inquiries 
as  to  the  reason  why  all  these  different  steps  and  various 
transactions  were  necessary  had  been  made  and  answered 
to  her  satisfaction. 

"  That  depends  altogether  upon  what  you  mean  by 
'  ruined/ "  Mitchell  answered.  "  He  won't  have  to 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  223 

go  out  and  work  by  the  day  exactly,  but  he  has  been 
hit  pretty  hard  for  all  that." 

"  What  a  silly  thing  it  was  for  him  to  go  in  with 
that  dreadful  Glenn  !"  she  answered,  in  a  meditative 
tone ;  then,  drawing  a  sigh  of  satisfaction,  as  the  com 
fortable  thought  crossed  her  mind  that  she  was  blessed 
with  a  husband  too  wise  to  ever  be  led  into  that  most 
unsubstantial  and  unsatisfactory  of  all  the  departments 
of  architecture  known  as  the  building  of  castles  in 
Spain  (though  I  could  never  see  why  they  were  so 
called;  for  surely  those  feudal  structures  would  be 
quite  as  profitable  an  investment  in  that  country  as  in 
any  other),  she  added, — 

"  HOAV  thankful  I  am,  John,  that  you  did  not  let 
Mr.  Warren  influence  you  into  investing  in  this 
company  !" 

"  Humph  !  I  haven't  quite  taken  leave  of  my  senses ; 
and  if  he  had  been  anything  better  than  an  unmitigated 
ass,  he  would  have  kept  out  of  any  such  speculation  as 
that  himself,"  Mitchell  answered,  contemptuously. 

Mollie  now  spoke  for  the  first  time  since  Warren's 
affairs  had  been  mentioned ;  taking  fire  at  her  brother- 
in-law's  contemptuous  allusion  to  his  friend,  she  an 
swered,  severely, — 

"  I  don't  think  that  was  at  all  nice  of  you,  John 
Addison.  I  think  it  very  bad  taste  in  you  to  sit  here 
and  call  your  friend  harsh  names  behind  his  back.  I 
remember  when  you  reproved  me  not  so  very  long  ago 
for  speaking  ill  of  him ;  and  I  am  sure  I  never  called 
him  a  fool.  I  would  think  I  hurt  myself  more  than 
any  one  else  if  I  were  to  call  my  worst  enemy  that ; 
and  I  certainly  would  scorn  to  say  such  things  of  a 


224  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

friend,"  throwing  an  emphasis  expressive  of  the  deepest 
of  righteous  indignation  upon  the  last  words. 

Mitchell  gave  a  long  whistle  indicative  of  extreme 
surprise  upon  receiving  this  rebuke  from  so  wholly 
unexpected  a  source. 

"  Crushed  again/7  he  answered,  with  an  assumption 
of  extreme  contrition.  "  What  has  converted  you  all 
of  a  sudden  into  so  warm  a  partisan  and  advocate  of 
our  speculative  friend  ?" 

"I  am  neither  a  partisan  nor  an  advocate  of  Mr. 
Warren,  or  of  any  one  else,  for  that  matter,  and  I  don't 
like  you  to  call  me  so  even  in  jest,"  she  replied  ;  "  but 
when  I  see  so  plainly  as  I  did  a  moment  ago  that  you 
are  both  unjust  and  unkind  I  shall  certainly  be  a  true 
enough  friend  to  you  to  tell  you  of  it ;  and  I  am  sure 
that  you  would  not  wish  me  to  be  selfish  enough  to 
keep  silence  while  you  abuse  your  friends." 

In  common  with  the  rest  of  his  sex,  Mitchell  looked 
upon  the  female  portion  of  his  family  as  fair  game  on 
which  to  perpetrate  his  practical  jokes  and  vent  his 
witticisms ;  and  it  was  his  especial  delight  to  involve 
either  his  wife  or  Mollie  in  a  discussion,  and  then, 
after  reducing  them  to  silence  by  his  sophistries,  laugh 
at  their  indignant  perplexity  over  the  arguments  by 
which  they  had  been  worsted,  and  which  they  knew 
were  altogether  unfair  even  though  they  were  unable 
to  point  out  the  dishonest  reasoning  and  the  defective 
links  in  the  chain  of  evidence  which  had  overcome 
them  when  he  challenged  them  to  do  so.  With  this 
end  now  in  view,  Mitchell  at  once  answered  Mollie 
with  an  air  of  alert  and  active  interest,  as  though  her 
words  had  brought  up  a  matter  of  vital  importance. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  225 

"Wait  a  minute,  my  dear,  I'm  afraid  I  did  not 
quite  catch  your  meaning  there.  I  understood  you  to 
say  that  unselfishness  caused  you  to  interfere  when  you 
heard  me  speaking  unhandsomely  of  Warren  behind 
his  back.  Now,  what  I  fail  to  see  is  this  :  what  has 
either  selfishness  or  unselfishness  to  do  with  the  matter 
any  way  ?" 

"Now,  John  Addison,  you  can't  draw  me  into  an 
argument  this  evening,  so  you  might  just  as  well  give 
up  the  attempt  now  as  later,"  Mollie  answered,  with 
a  pretty  impatience  which  made  her  even  more  charm 
ing  than  ever. 

"I  don't  wish  to  draw  you  into  any  argument, 
Mollie  ;  but  answer  me,  please.  I  am  simply  crushed 
under  the  burden  of  my  own  stupidity,  and  surely  you 
will  not  be  so  cruel  as  to  leave  me  in  this  miserable 
plight,"  Mitchell  replied,  in  plaintive  tones. 

"  I  understand  you  perfectly,  sir,  and  I  have  noth 
ing  to  say." 

"  Oh,  come  now,  Mollie,  that's  weak ;  that's  just  a 
mere  crawl,"  Mitchell  scornfully  exclaimed,  trying  to 
gain  his  point  by  provoking  her  through  exasperation 
into  the  very  discussion  she  was  so  evidently  trying  to 
avoid.  Mollie  saw  through  his  scheme  at  once ;  and 
she  now  showed  the  weakness  with  which  he  had 
charged  her  by  permitting  her  annoyance  to  so  far  get 
the  control  of  her  feelings  that  she  did  answer  his 
taunt,  and  so  acted  in  exact  compliance  with  his 
wishes. 

"I  will  answer  your  question,  but  I  want  you  to 
thoroughly  understand  that  I  will  not  get  into  any 
discussion  with  you,"  she  replied,  trying  to  convince 
P 


226  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

herself  that  she  had  not  been  badgered  by  him  even 
into  partial  submission. 

"That  is  all  I  have  been  asking  for,  my  dear;  a 
candid  answer  to  an  honest  question  is  the  only  unful 
filled  desire  of  my  heart  to-night.  I  have  no  more 
wish  for  a  discussion  than  yourself/7  Mitchell  returned, 
with  brazen  insincerity,  inwardly  chuckling  over  his 
success  in  managing  his  womankind,  as  he  spoke. 

"Very  well,  then/'  said  Mollie.  "What  I  meant 
was  simply  this :  while  I  denied  that  I  was  a  partisan 
in  the  present  instance,  I  should  still  very  much  regret 
finding  myself  so  constituted  mentally  and  morally  that 
I  could  never  feel  a  profound,  even  an  absorbing,  interest 
in  any  person  or  any  thing,  except  that  person  or  object 
was  associated  in  some  way  with  my  personal  advantage." 

"I  see,"  Mitchell  answered.  "You  mean  that  a 
person  must  possess  a  certain  amount  of  unselfishness 
in  order  to  make  a  good  partisan." 

"  You  agree  with  me,  do  you  not  ?"  she  asked,  re 
plying  to  his  implied  question  by  directly  proposing 
one  herself.  Then,  as  he  returned  no  answer,  she  re 
sumed  her  explanation  of  her  idea,  saying, — 

"  As  I  look  at  the  subject,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is 
only  the  selfish,  the  cold-blooded,  who  never  heartily 
f  take  sides/  as  the  boys  say,  and  who  quietly  weigh  all 
the  chances  before  they  speak  or  act,  in  order  to  see 
just  what  and  how  much  individual  advantage  they 
will  gain  by  joining  a  cause  or  supporting  a  person. 
But  I  have  answered  your  question,  and  in  doing  this 
I  have  done  all  that  I  promised  to  do ;  so  good-night. 
Good-night,  Erne."  And  with  these  words  she  retired 
to  her  tent. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  227 

Mitchell  was  not  anxious  to  detain  her,  for  the  con 
versation,  in  more  ways  than  one,  had  taken  a  turn  he 
had  not  expected ;  while,  in  the  insight  it  had  given 
him  into  her  mind,  it  had  shown  him  feelings  existing 
there  he  had  by  no  means  expected  to  learn  that  she 
entertained.  All  this  required  meditation,  so  he  said 
nothing  in  reply  to  her  last  words,  merely  returning 
her  "  good-night ;"  and  after  she  had  disappeared 
within  the  tent  he  remained  for  some  moments  silently 
weighing  all  that  she  had  said  since  the  conversation 
first  began,  in  all  the  bearings  of  her  words.  At  last 
he  said,  thoughtfully,  addressing  his  wife, — 

"  It  seems  to  me,  Effie,  that  I  can  see  the  outward 
and  visible  signs  of  a  great  inward  change  of  feeling 
towards  a  certain  young  man  of  our  acquaintance 
working  in  your  sister ;  though  perhaps  the  change  has 
already  been  wrought  in  her." 

"  That  is  nothing  new,  dear ;  for  you  must  remember 
that  I  prepared  you  for  this  shock  some  time  ago." 

"  Well,  hardly  prepared  me,  for  I  did  not  more  than 
half  believe  that  you  were  right.  But  trust  a  woman 
for  reading  such  signs  correctly ;  you  will  detect  them 
and  note  their  meaning  as  soon,  and  even  sooner,  than 
our  truthful  friend  yonder  would  discern  an  antelope's 
track,"  Mitchell  answered,  nodding  towards  Jim,  who 
sat  a  little  apart  by  himself  placidly  smoking  his  pipe. 

"  John,"  said  his  wife,  laying  her  hand  on  his  arm 
as  she  spoke, — "  John,  I  beg  of  you,  don't  say  or  do 
anything  absurd  to  influence  her  feelings." 

Mitchell  patted  the  slender  fingers  affectionately  as 
he  gave  her  the  desired  promise. 

"  I  know  what  you  mean,  my  dear,"  he  said  :   "  no 


228  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

painful  allusions  to  wardrobes  are  to  be  admitted ;  no 
reference  to  raiment  is  permissible.  Be  calm,  my  dear, 
be  calm ;  no  such  words  shall  pass  my  lips.  Even 
should  we  fall  to  discussing  natural  history,  and  should 
I  find  it  necessary  to  speak  of  the  elephant,  even  wild 
horses  shall  not  drag  from  me  the  faintest  or  most 
distant  allusion  to  his  trunk." 

Mrs.  Mitchell  laughed,  and,  rising  to  follow  her 
sister  into  their  tent,  she  answered, — 

"  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  you  say  so ;  but  as  we  are 
none  of  us  enthusiasts  on  the  subject  of  natural  history, 
and  so  long  as  we  remain  in  camp  we  shall  be  out  of 
the  circus  belt,  I  think  a  slight  effort  at  self-control 
will  be  sufficient  to  keep  you  out  of  mischief." 

Mitchell  and  his  wife  were  altogether  right  in  their 
suspicions.  Mollie's  feelings  towards  Warren,  as  her 
acquaintance  with  him  advanced,  and  her  knowledge 
of  his  character  and  of  the  man  himself  became  more 
thorough,  had  undergone  a  complete  change ;  though 
it  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  her  sentiments 
had  not  so  much  changed  as  developed  from  a  crude, 
undefinable  condition,  and  had  now  passed  into  such 
a  state  that  she  herself  could  understand  them  and 
explain  them. 

From  the  first  they  two  had  been  good  friends.  Not 
withstanding  the  peculiar  circumstances  which  had,  for 
a  time,  opposed  the  formation  of  any  friendship,  and,  by 
creating  a  feeling  of  embarrassed  self-consciousness,  at 
least  on  her  side,  had  prevented  a  perfect  understanding 
between  them,  she  had  always  liked  the  man,  and  little 
by  little  she  began  to  confess  to  herself  that  she  did 
find  a  real  pleasure  in  his  companionship;  while  as 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  229 

for  Warren,  he  was  never  so  happy  as  when  in  her 
society. 

Now,  she  had  begun  to  understand  her  own  mind, 
and  to  know  that  this  liking  was  something  more  than 
a  mere  feeling  of  good-fellowship ;  and  she  would  have 
learned  this  truth  long  before  she  did  awaken  to  it  had 
not  that  pique  to  which  her  sister  so  often  referred, 
arising  from  their  first  uncomfortable  meeting,  made 
her  unwilling  to  give  more  than  the  merest  courtesies 
of  an  acquaintance  to  one  who  had,  however  uninten 
tionally  on  his  own  part,  placed  her  in  so  disagreeable 
and  ridiculous  a  situation. 

Now,  however,  she  felt  within  her  heart  a  truth 
which  she  could  not  confess  even  to  herself  until  its 
confession  had  been  asked ;  although  she  was  obliged 
to  admit  that,  should  Warren  try  once  again  to  win 
this  confession  from  her,  she  would  meet  him  differ 
ently  from  what  she  had  done  before.  Then  she  found 
herself  wondering  would  he  ever  try  to  win  her  again  ? 
But  this  thought  caused  her  very  little  anxiety,  for  she 
felt  certain  that  he  would ;  and  then  she  grew  happy 
over  the  thought  how,  when  the  morrow  had  brought 
him,  she  would  tell  him  how  truly  sorry  she  had  been 
ever  since  she  had  heard  of  his  terrible  misfortune,  and 

then But  here  she  blushed,  and  refused  to  dream 

any  further  as  yet,  even  in  her  own  heart. 

She  had  come  now  to  recognize  the  truth  that  their 
natures  were  perfectly  adapted,  the  one  to  the  other ; 
he  being  strong,  yet  impulsive,  while  she  was  calm,  yet 
fully  as  strong  in  her  character,  and  at  the  same  time 
gentle,  sweet,  and  true. 

Each  gave  to  the  other  exactly  those  qualities  which 
20 


230  THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM. 

that  other  needed ;  and  the  blending  of  their  lives 
would  be  that  uniting  of  sympathy  to  sympathy  which 
makes  two  natures,  each  one  in  its  support  of  the  other, 
so  wholly  one  that  each  recognizes  its  own  imperfections 
when  it  exists  apart  from  the  other ;  while  in  the  other 
each  finds  the  most  perfect  happiness,  the  sweetest  peace 
that  earth  can  know ;  a  blending  of  two  natures  which 
makes  marriage  a  sacrament,  a  sacred  mystery,  prophetic 
of  the  perfect  peace  and  happiness  of  heaven.  Jl 


CHAPTEE    XV. 

IT  was  with  a  sore  and  heavy  heart  that  Warren 
mounted  his  horse  to  rejoin  his  friend  and  resume  his 
camp-life.  The  day  was  perfect  in  its  every  feature, 
perfect  with  all  the  beauty  of  a  California  morning. 
The  air  was  sweet  and  filled  with  a  balmy  and  refresh 
ing  warmth,  while  a  soft,  mellow  haze  clothed  the  distant 
mountain-peaks  in  a  golden  mantle. 

Warren's  mind  was,  however,  occupied  with  thoughts 
which  shut  out  all  realization  of  the  beauties  which  sur 
rounded  him.  While  the  loss  of  his  property  was,  of 
course,  a  serious  blow,  still,  to  so  proud-spirited  and 
ambitious  a  man  as  he  the  disappointment  of  his  hopes 
was  far  more  severely  felt  than  the  financial  loss,  heavy 
as  it  was. 

He  had  confidently  expected  to  see  a  large  and  pros 
perous  town  grow  up  on  the  Oakdale  tract  within  the 
next  two  years, — or  three  at  the  outside, — which  would 
ultimately  develop  into  a  thriving  city.  Not  the  least 
brilliant  feature  in  this  dream  had  been  the  hope  of  one 
day  finding  himself  recorded  in  the  annals  of  a  great 
State  as  one  of  those  far-seeing  and  public-spirited  men 
whose  almost  prophetic  prevision  into  the  future  of  this 
fairest  spot  in  all  the  nation  had  led  them  to  give  to  the 
commonwealth  the  most  beautiful  of  its  garden  cities. 

But  in  the  very  hour  when  he  was  most  fondly 
dreaming  of  success,  in  that  same  hour  the  spires  and 
domes,  the  mansions  and  cottages  of  this  fair  city  of 

231 


232  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

his  visions  vanished  from  before  his  eyes ;  and  he  woke 
from  his  day-dream  to  see  himself,  like  Alnaschar  in 
the  Arabian  tale,  gazing  upon  nothing  but  the  pitiful 
relics  of  a  shattered  fortune. 

The  transformation  in  his  own  condition  was  no  less 
complete  and  no  less  mortifying  than  it  had  been  in 
the  case  of  the  visionary  brother  of  the  Oriental 
barber,  with  whom  he  could  not  help  contrasting 
himself  in  his  own  mind.  Instead  of  finding  himself 
foremost  in  the  front  rank  of  the  leaders  of  nineteenth- 
century  development  and  American  civilization,  he  was 
so  veiy  far  from  becoming  a  great  leader  of  progress,  to 
whom  the  founding  of  a  city  was  no  more  of  an  achieve 
ment  than  the  establishment  of  a  successful  business  is 
to  ordinary  men,  that  he  found  himself  suddenly  thrust 
down  from  the  high  pedestal  on  which  he  had  placed 
himself  to  hold  a  place  below  the  lowest  of  the  hum 
drum  and  unenterprising  men  upon  whom  he  had 
hitherto  looked  down  with  pitying  contempt;  and 
bitterest  of  all,  in  this  humble  estate  he  knew  that 
he  was  considered  by  others  not  a  wreck  of  fallen 
greatness,  but  only  a  broken  speculator,  a  very  com 
monplace  and  green  young  man,  who  had  come  from 
the  East  to  "  astonish  the  natives,"  but  had  only  suc 
ceeded  in  being  relieved  of  the  bulk  of  his  fortune  by 
the  first  shrewd  and  plausible  operator  who  wished  to 
take  him  in  hand  to  pluck. 

'  Being  so  much  less  than  a  hero  in  his  own  eyes,  how 
must  he  now  appear,  after  all  his  boasting,  in  Mollie's 
sight?  And,  of  all  the  world,  she  was,  to  his  mind, 
the  fairest  and  the  sweetest,  the  one  with  whom  he 
most  ardently  longed  to  find  favor. 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A  BOOM.  233 

"When  his  prospects  had  been  the  brightest  and  his 
hopes  the  highest,  he  had  never  been  able  to  win  from 
her  more  than  a  cordial  friendship.  Now  that  he  was 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  "  boomer,"  even  in  his 
own  estimation ;  now  that  the  most  partial  of  his 
friends  would  be  compelled  to  speak  of  him  as  a 
speculator  who  had  been  beaten  at  his  own  game,  and 
had  come  out  of  it  a  bankrupt  and  almost  financially 
ruined,  he  could  hope  for  nothing  else  from  her  than  a 
pity  almost  worse  for  him  to  endure  than  her  outspoken 
contempt. 

He  knew  that  he  was  going  back  to  the  camp  almost 
for  the  single  purpose  of  meeting  her.  He  called  him 
self  a  fool  for  his  pains,  and  he  told  himself  time  and 
again  as  he  rode  along  that  if  he  were  possessed  of  the 
smallest  atom  of  sense  he  would  turn  back,  write  a 
note  of  excuse,  and  bid  them  all  good-by,  then  pack 
up  and  be  gone  where  he  would  never  see  her  again, 
long  before  they  could  return.  But  all  the  while  he 
was  giving  himself  this  excellent  counsel  he  kept 
straight  on  in  his  course,  and  he  knew  that  he  could 
not  follow  out  his  own  advice,  however  hard  he  were 
to  try. 

Warren  had  not  yet  learned  that  an  ardent  and  devoted 
love  such  as  that  he  gave  to  Mollie — a  love  which  at 
once  combined  the  poetry  of  passion  with  the  sincerity 
of  truth — could  not  fail  to  awaken  the  interest  of  the 
woman  upon  whom  he  lavished  all  the  wealth  of  his 
affection.  And  though  she  might,  for  reasons  of  her 
own,  withhold  her  love  from  him  while  his  course  was 
one  of  unclouded  prosperity,  yet  when  a  great  calamity 
overtook  him  her  womanly  nature  would  be  so  far  from 


234  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

prompting  her  to  manifest  the  cold  sympathy  of  which 
Warren  stood  in  fear,  that  his  misfortunes  would  be  the 
very  thing  wanting  to  induce  her  to  give  him  the  love  he 
was  striving  to  win,  because  she  would  know  that  this 
was  all  that  she  could  do,  while  it  would  also  be  the 
best  that  she  could  do,  to  aid  him  in  his  conflict  against 
trouble,  and  assist  him  in  turning  defeat  into  victory. 

This  was  a  truth  that  Warren  had  as  yet  to  discover ; 
and  herein  he  was  more  fortunate  than  many  men,  for 
some  men  never  have  an  opportunity  of  learning  it, 
either  because  they  are  personally  unworthy,  or  because 
they  are  unwise  in  their  choice  of  the  one  upon  whom 
they  have  bestowed  their  own  aifections. 

A  close  concentration  of  our  thoughts  upon  any  one 
subject,  whether  the  engrossing  theme  be  pleasurable  or 
painful,  is  a  wonderful  assistance  to  the  flight  of  time, 
causing  the  minutes  to  roll  on  into  hours,  and  the  hours 
to  fly  by  almost  unperceived,  and  Warren  now  looked 
about  him  to  find  that  his  journey  was  almost  two- 
thirds  done.  He  had  now  come  to  the  place  where  the 
road  divided ;  the  old  road,  long  since  abandoned  for 
public  use,  and  given  over  to  chance  passengers  in  the 
shape  of  tourists  or  hunters,  here  turned  off  to  follow 
beside  the  channel  of  the  twisting  and  winding  creek, 
and  skirting  the  spur  of  the  mountain  over  which  the 
new  road,  now  invariably  used,  had  been  made.  As 
he  reached  this  point  Warren  reined  in  his  horse,  think 
ing  for  the  last  time  that,  as  a  sensible  man,  he  ought  to 
turn  back  and  save  himself  from  the  humiliation  that 
he  knew  awaited  him  if  he  followed  his  journey  to  its 
end ;  for  the  last  time  he  made  a  strong  effort  to  sum 
mon  the  resolution  necessary  to  enable  him  to  retrace 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  235 

his  steps,  but  he  could  not.  Either  fate  had  some 
better  thing  in  store  for"  him,  or  else  he  had  not  yet 
suffered  deeply  enough  to  altogether  satisfy  the  perverse 
fortunes  ruling  his  destinies ;  so,  with  a  sigh  of  pity 
for  himself,  and  of  compassion  on  his  own  weakness, 
he  rode  forward ;  though,  to  put  off  the  hour  which  he 
felt  could  bring  him  nothing  except  evil,  but  yet  which 
he  had  not  sufficient  force  of  character  to  altogether 
avoid,  he  turned  off  to  take  the  old  disused  lower  road 
as  being  the  longer. 

It  was  now  almost  noon ;  the  mountains  by  which 
he  was  surrounded  shut  off  the  sea-breeze  which,  in 
places  nearer  the  coast,  cooled  and  tempered  the  air 
during  the  hottest  days  of  summer.  The  fierce  semi- 
tropical  sun  was  beating  down  upon  him  from  a  cloud 
less  sky  with  strong,  burning  rays.  The  haze  had  deep 
ened  on  the  mountains,  as  though  nature,  pitying  their 
old  and  wrinkled  features,  had  drawn  a  veil  to  soften 
their  outlines  in  the  eyes  of  human  beholders.  The 
intense  stillness  of  this  wilderness,  at  other  times  ro 
mantic,  was  now  almost  oppressive  to  Warren  in  his 
misery  and  loneliness.  Not  a  sound  broke  the  silence 
of  the  canon  except  the  occasional  chirp  of  a  cricket, 
the  hum  of  a  bee  flitting  from  wild-flower  to  wild- 
flower,  or  the  murmur  of  the  brook  at  his  feet.  As 
he  crossed  the  creek  and  rode  out  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  to  the  place  where  the  old  road  which  he 
had  been  following  met  the  new  road  as  it  descended 
the  mountain  spur,  he  was  startled  by  the  report  of  a 
gun  far  up  the  hill  followed  immediately  by  the  cry 
of  a  woman,  whose  voice  showed  that  she  was  either 
seriously  hurt  or  else  was  in  an  agony  of  fear. 


236  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

Warren  stopped  his  horse  to  look  up  the  steep  grade, 
fearful  lest  some  accident  had  occurred  in  this  lonely 
spot ;  and,  as  if  he  were  not  yet  miserable  enough,  to 
add  to  his  wretchedness,  he  was  about  to  become  bur 
dened  with  the  responsibility  of  caring  for  a  woman 
seriously  wounded,  and  miles  from  any  possibility  of 
medical  aid. 

In  a  second,  however,  the  current  of  his  apprehen 
sions  became  changed  but  not  lessened,  for  a  horse  now 
came  into  sight  plunging  down  the  steep  and  narrow 
grade  in  all  the  blind  frenzy  of  brute  terror.  His  rider 
was  a  woman,  and  Warren's  apprehensions  became 
changed  to  the  keenest  anguish  when  he  recognized  the 
woman  to  be  Mollie. 

The  road  had  been  cut  out  of  the  side  of  the  moun 
tain,  and  while  it  was  well  kept  and  was  in  perfect 
repair,  making  it  safe  for  a  skilful  driver,  it  was  by  no 
means  the  place  in  which  a  tyro  ought  to  make  experi 
ments  in  feats  of  horsemanship,  and  it  was  a  place  of 
deadly  peril  in  the  event  of  a  runaway.  The  road-bed 
was  narrow,  with  the  mountain  wall  on  one  side  and 
on  the  other  the  sheer  descent  down,  down  hundreds 
of  feet  to  the  floor  of  the  valley  beneath.  Should  horse 
and  rider  plunge  into  that  awful  abyss  they  would 
both  be  dead  before  reaching  the  bottom,  while  Mollie 
would  be  torn  and  mangled  beyond  all  possibility  of 
recognition  on  the  trees  and  bushes  covering  the  moun 
tain  side  like  a  chevaux-de-frise  of  nature's  planting. 

Warren  saw  the  peril  of  the  whole  situation  at  the 
first  glance,  and,  springing  from  his  horse,  he  ordered 
him  to  stand,  knowing  that  the  well-trained  brute 
would  obey  the  command,  however  long  his  master 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  237 

might  be  absent ;  then  he  hastened  up  the  steep  road, 
intending  either  to  rescue  Mollie  from  her  peril  or  to 
share  her  fate. 

On  he  ran,  at  the  same  time  being  careful  to  avoid 
any  sudden  motion  or  any  gesture  of  limbs  or  body 
that  would  add  to  the  frenzy  of  her  fear-maddened 
horse.  So  long  as  the  animal  kept  to  the  smooth  and 
carefully-tended  road  all  was  well ;  it  was  only  a 
stumble,  or  some  sudden  apparition  before  him  which 
might  cause  him  to  swerve  to  the  right  and  plunge 
over  the  precipice,  that  Warren  feared. 

Since  her  first  terrified  scream  Mollie  had  remained 
perfectly  silent,  and,  so  far  as  Warren  could  judge,  she 
had  recovered  her  calmness.  She  sat  firmly  in  her 
saddle,  holding  her  horse  in  with  a  strong,  steady 
grasp,  at  the  same  time  talking  to  him  in  gentle,  sooth 
ing  tones ;  but  he  had  been  too  thoroughly  maddened 
by  fright  to  yield  readily  to  his  rider's  influence,  and 
he  rushed  wildly  on  down  the  steep  descent.  On,  on 
he  rushed,  drawing  rapidly  nearer  to  Warren  with 
every  bound,  and  he  in  his  turn  ran  with  swift  but 
cautious  steps  to  meet  the  horse.  As  they  came  face  to 
face,  Warren  stepped  quickly  to  the  very  edge  of  the 
precipice,  seized  the  horse  by  the  bridle,  and,  throwing 
all  his  strength  into  his  grasp,  tried  by  a  quick  motion 
to  back  him  against  the  mountain  wall  and  hold  him 
there  until  he  could  once  more  be  brought  under  con 
trol. 

One  minute  of  quick  resolution  and  awful  action ; 
one  minute,  seemingly  endless  in  its  duration.  Above, 
the  blue  sky  smiling  in  semi-tropical  depth  of  color 
and  richness  of  beauty ;  before  them  the  mountain 


238  THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM. 

wall,  draped  in  vines  of  variegated  foliage,  and  thickly 
set  with  trees  on  whose  branches  the  birds  twittered  as 
they  perked  their  heads  and  looked  down  in  curious 
wonder  at  the  scene  of  human  suffering  and  possible 
death  beneath ;  below,  the  yawning  depths,  through 
which  coursed  the  brook,  smiling  in  the  sunlight  and 
singing  merrily  as  it  hastened  on  to  join  its  waters 
with  the  ocean. 

"With  the  curious  inconsequence  which  forms  a  part 
of  human  nature  in  times  of  deadly  peril,  Warren 
noted  every  detail  of  scenery  and  of  event  about  him. 
It  seemed  as  though  the  very  music  of  the  creek  came 
up  from  the  deep  valley  and  reached  his  ears ;  while, 
by  a  quick  side-glance,  as  he  seized  the  rein  of  M  ollie's 
horse  when  it  dashed  by  him,  he  saw  for  the  instant 
his  own  horse  quietly  grazing  by  the  roadside  below, 
careless  of  his  master's  fate. 

Every  trivial  detail  was  borne  in  upon  Warren's 
mind  for  an  instant ;  then,  a  strange  humming  filled 
his  ears  almost  deafening  him;  the  very  air  seemed 
filled  with  wild,  staring  eyes  and  open,  frothing 
mouths ;  earth  and  sky  faded  from  before  his  sight ; 
the  firm  ground  slipped  from  under  his  feet;  he  felt 
himself  hang  in  mid-air  an  instant ;  now  he  was  fall 
ing  down,  down ;  once  more  a  foot  strikes,  now  rests 
upon  firm  earth,  noAV  both  feet  stand  secure,  and  all  is 
over. 

How  it  was  done,  just  what  was  done  in  those  few 
terrible  seconds,  neither  Warren  nor  Mollie  ever  knew. 
After  one  awful  instant  which  seemed  an  eternity,  and 
during  which  he  had  passed  through  all  the  bitterness 
of  death,  Warren  found  himself  standing  once  more  in 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  239 

safety  upon  the  mountain  road,  and  firmly  holding  the 
horse,  now  subdued  and  trembling  in  every  nerve, 
himself  covered  with  sweat  and  dust,  hatless,  with  torn 
clothes,  bruised  and  bleeding.  Seeing  that  the  horse 
was  once  more  quiet,  he  lifted  Mollie,  pale  and,  now 
that  all  danger  was  past,  ready  to  faint,  from  her 
saddle ;  then,  clasping  her  to  his  breast,  he  kissed  her 
lips  again  and  again,  crying, — 

"Oh,  Mollie,  my  darling,  my  own  sweet  love,  you 
are  safe,  you  are  safe  !  How  thankful  I  am  that  I  was 
brought  here  just  in  time  !" 

Mollie  was  so  far  from  being  outraged  or  even 
offended  at  this  very  unceremonious  and  unconven 
tional  treatment  that  she  seemed  to  like  it.  She  lay  on 
his  breast,  clinging  to  him  with  a  contented,  happy, 
and  restful  feeling.  It  seemed  to  her,  for  the  moment, 
that  she  belonged  there,  and  while  she  remained  there 
that  she  would  be  secure  from  every  danger ;  so  she 
held  up  her  soft,  sweet  lips  to  his  caresses,  and  returned 
them  with  the  rapture  which  belongs  to  the  first  true 
love.  For  one  moment  of  perfect  happiness  they  gave 
themselves  each  to  the  other,  and  in  that  moment  their 
souls  were  united  for  time  and  eternity ;  then  Mollie 
remembered  that  this  would  never  do  on  the  high 
road.  What  if  the  quail-hunter  whose  gun  had  caused 
the  mischief  should  happen  along  ?  So  she  released  her 
self  from  his  embrace  with  a  gentle  motion,  saying, — 

"  I  am  so  glad  and  grateful,  dear  love,  that  you  came 
to  my  rescue,  and  no  one  else. — But  you  are  hurt  ?" 

Warren  looked  down  at  his  demoralized  clothes  and 
cut  hands,  as  he  laughingly  answered, — 

"  I  am  bruised  a  little ;  personally  I  have  met  with 


240  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

no  more  serious  injury  than  that ;  as  for  my  clothing, 
that  is  past  repair,  while  my  hat  is  gayly  riding  the 
waves  of  the  creek  on  its  way  to  the  broad  Pacific. 
You  will  have  to  ride  back  under  the  escort  of  one 
who,  were  an  escutcheon  given  him,  would  be  hailed 
as  the  Knight  of  the  Deplorable  Figure.  Shall  you  be 
too  much  ashamed  of  my  hatless  and  tattered  plight  to 
permit  me  to  constitute  myself  as  your  guardian  for 
the  rest  of  the  way  ?" 

"Shall  I,  indeed?"  Mollie  answered,  indignant  at 
the  bare  thought.  "  I  hope  I  am  not  quite  a  wretch.  I 
think  that  you  are  the  best  and  the  bravest  of  men,  and 
you  never  looked  so  lovely  to  me  as  you  do  at  this 
moment.  Every  bruise  and  every  hurt  you  have  re 
ceived  in  my  service,  and  each  one  is  a  claim  on  my 
love.  Come,  now,  let  us  go  down  to  the  brook  and  let 
me  see  how  badly  you  have  been  hurt  for  me,  you 
poor,  brave,  noble  darling." 

In  vain  Warren  protested  that  he  was  not  hurt  in 
the  least,  and  that  he  had  never  felt  so  well  in  his  life 
as  he  did  at  that  moment ;  Mollie  would  not  be  pacified 
until  she  had  satisfied  herself  by  a  personal  examina 
tion  of  his  injuries ;  so  together  they  walked  down  the 
road  to  the  brook,  Warren  leading  Mollie's  horse  and 
she  walking  by  his  side ;  and  there,  seated  on  a  stone, 
she  leaned  over  him  washing  the  dust  and  blood  from 
his  hurts,  while  she  kissed  and  petted  him  to  his  heart's 
content  and  praised  him  as  the  bravest  of  men,  honestly 
believing — and  what  girl  who  had  just  been,  like  her, 
rescued  from  a  great  danger  by  her  own  lover  would 
not  have  believed  the  same  ? — that  he  had  performed  a 
deed  of  unheard-of  valor. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM.  241 

The  day  was  the  same  in  every  way  as  it  had  been 
when  Warren  left  Ventura,  while  it  was  only  a  few 
hours  older,  but  the  whole  world  had  been  changed  for 
him  in  the  events  that  had  transpired  in  those  few  seconds 
on  the  mountain ;  such  wonders  can  the  briefest  lapse 
of  time  work  in  all  the  rest  of  our  existence.  Then, 
Warren  saw  nothing  before  him  but  humiliation  and  a 
life-long  struggle  with  a  poverty  of  his  own  creation ; 
now,  although  his  fortunes  had  not  mended  in  the 
least,  the  world  looked  bright,  happy,  and  well  worth 
the  struggle  it  demands  of  every  one  who  would  live 
in  it.  The  future  seemed  bright  and  promising  now, 
and  as  for  the  poverty,  it  did  not  seem  so  very  grind 
ing  or  bitter  after  all,  since  Mollie  had  agreed  to  face 
it  with  him.  Such  a  worker  of  miracles  is  a  happy 
love. 

Mollie  soon  found  that  her  lover's  words  were  true, 
and  that,  beyond  a  few  bruises  and  slight  cuts  which 
needed  no  more  careful  medical  treatment  than  court- 
plaster  would  supply,  he  had  received  no  bodily  injury 
at  all.  As  she  sat  bathing  these  trifling  hurts,  she  told 
him  how  she  had  happened  to  be  at  that  place  at  all, 
and  how  the  adventure  had  come  about. 

She  began  her  story  by  mercilessly  insisting  upon  one 
point,  without  paying  the  slightest  attention  to  Warren's 
feelings,  although  she  knew  how  fatal  her  words  would 
be  to  the  thoughts  he  was  entertaining,  and  this  was, 
that  she  had  come  out  with  no  thought  or  intention  of 
meeting  him.  She  had  been  attracted  by  the  beauty 
of  the  early  morning,  and  by  this  alone,  and  having 
become,  through  her  California  residence,  an  accom 
plished  horsewoman,  as  well  as  an  enthusiastic  lover 
L  q  21 


242  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

of  the  exercise,  she  had  gone  out  for  the  sake  of  the 
ride.  It  had  proved  pleasant,  even  beyond  her  expec 
tations,  and,  charmed  by  the  delicious  air  and  exquisite 
scenery  which  no  amount  of  familiarity  can  ever  rob 
of  its  charms,  she  had  prolonged  her  ride  to  the  village 
of  NordhofF.  Just  as  she  had  reached  the  top  of  the 
mountain  on  her  return,  a  quail-hunter  had  startled  her 
horse  and  herself  by  the  unexpected  discharge  of  his 
gun ;  "  and,"  she  added,  with  a  pretty  air  of  happy 
embarrassment,  "  you  know  the  rest." 

Warren  made  her  an  answer  for  the  exact  expression 
of  which  no  language,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  as  yet 
added  any  adequate  word  to  its  vocabulary.  Then, 
glancing  up  the  mountain  road,  where  a  pedestrian 
figure  could  now  be  discerned  in  the  distance  coming 
down  towards  the  spot  where  they  were  seated,  he 
said, — 

"  Yes,  and  lest  that  man  yonder  should  prove  to  be 
our  quail-shooter  coming  to  find  out  what  mischief  he 
has  done,  let  us  get  on  the  road  before  he  comes  up  to 
us  to  bore  us  with  his  excuses  and  apologies ;  and, 
perhaps,  to  suspect  the  happiness  he  has  accidentally 
brought  about." 

Mollie  blushed  and  gave  a  ready  assent,  and  they 
were  soon  mounted  and  on  the  way  once  more. 

The  ride  back  was  the  happiest  of  the  many  they 
had  taken  in  each  other's  company.  The  conversation 
was,  however,  nothing  to  which  we  would  care  to  listen. 
Since  the  creation  of  man  love-making  has  always  been 
the  same ;  it  is  an  art  whose  principles  and  laws  never 
vary,  and  the  topics  of  conversation  never  change, 
while  lovers  themselves  have  never  lost  the  happy 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  243 

faculty  of  making  the  people  who  are  unfortunate 
enough  to  be  brought  into  their  company  feel  alto 
gether  uncomfortable  and  in  the  way.  So  we  will 
spare  ourselves  the  discomfort  and  our  young  friends 
the  embarrassment  of  bearing  them  company  on  that 
ride,  only  saying  in  reference  to  it  that,  although 
courting  on  horseback  does  certainly  possess  marked 
disadvantages,  on  this  occasion  it  held  sufficient  attrac 
tions  to  cause  our  young  friends  to  strike  a  very  moder 
ate  gait,  taken,  as  I  suspect,  to  prolong  their  ride  to  the 
utmost ;  although  they  deny  this,  and  explain  the  length 
of  time  consumed  in  riding  up  the  canon  to  the  badness 
of  the  road.  However  this  may  be,  the  fact  remains 
that  in  making  this  trip  theirs  is  the  longest  time  on 
record,  for  it  was  late  in  the  afternoon  when  they  rode 
into  camp,  and  were  happy  enough  to  find  Mitchell  and 
his  wife  alone,  Jim  being  out  catching  trout  for  their 
breakfast. 

Erne  gave  a  little  cry  of  alarm  and  dismay  as  she 
looked  at  Warren  and  saw  the  plight  in  which  he  had 
returned,  while  Mitchell  made  no  attempt  to  conceal 
his  astonishment  at  his  friend's  demoralized  condition. 
"  Well,  my  deplorable  friend,  does  the  bursting  of  a 
boom  in  Southern  California  always  shatter  those  within 
its  range  in  this  effective  way  ?"  he  asked  as  soon  as  he 
recovered  from  his  surprise  sufficiently  to  be  able  to 
speak. 

Warren  assisted  his  companion  to  alight,  then  an 
swered, — 

"  Like  everything  else  in  this  wonderful  country,  a 
boom  assumes  colossal  proportions ;  and  consequently, 
when  it  goes  off  the  splinters  fly  vigorously,  filling  the 


244  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

victims  to  such  an  extent  that  any  one  of  them  could 
pose  as  a  model  for  Saint  Sebastian,  only  that  I  know 
of  none  who  have  his  look  of  calm  resignation  and  quiet 
unconcern.  In  looking  upon  me,  you  see  them  all." 

At  this  point  Mollie  interposed.  "  John,"  she  said, 
"  you  must  not  say  one  word  about  Mr.  Warren's  ap 
pearance,  for  he  has  been  hurt  in  protecting  me.  My 
horse  took  fright  when  I  was  riding  down  the  moun 
tain,  and  right  in  its  steepest  part.  Mr.  Warren  came 
by  the  old  road,  and  just  at  the  right  moment.  He 
saw  it  all,  jumped  off  his  own  horse,  ran  to  meet  mine 
and  stopped  him  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life.  It  was  the 
bravest  thing  I  ever  knew.  He  saved  my  life  and — 

and "     She  stopped,  partly  because  her  voice  was 

too  full  of  the  tears  awakened  by  her  conflicting  emo 
tions  to  permit  any  more  lengthened  explanation,  partly 
because  she  did  not  know  just  what  to  say  next.  War 
ren  took  her  hand,  while  Mitchell  and  his  wife  ex 
changed  glances,  grasping  the  whole  situation  at  once. 

"  And  you  are  going  to  give  it  to  him  as  a  reward  for 
services  rendered,"  he  said,  completing  Mollie's  sentence 
for  her  and  glancing  significantly  at  her  hand  as  he  spoke. 
"Well,  a  fair  exchange, — you  know  the  old  saying, 
Warren.  I  congratulate  you  with  all  my  heart ;  you 
have  got  a  gem  of  a  girl  there,  the  best  one  in  all  the 
world,  now  that  Effie  has  been  submitted  to  cancellation. 
I  am  glad  to  welcome  you  as  a  brother;  and  I  haven't 
wished  you  happiness,  and  am  not  going  to,  because  there 
is  no  manner  of  doubt  on  that  point.  I've  been  in  the 
family  years  enough  to  know  what  kind  of  women  they 
are,  and  to  speak  with  authority  on  that  point.  If  you 
are  not  happy  it  will  be  all  your  own  fault,  my  boy." 


THE  BURSTING   OF  A   BOOM.  245 

He  shook  his  friend  heartily  by  the  hand,  kissed  his 
sister-in-law,  and  walked  away,  blowing  his  nose  vigor 
ously  and  grumbling  something  about  so  much  strong 
sunlight  being  bad  for  catarrh. 

Effie  also  went  up  to  Warren  to  congratulate  him, 
saying,— 

"  I  have  always  liked  you,  Mr.  Warren,  and  I  am 
glad  to  know  that  Mollie  is  going  to  marry  a  brave 
man  as  well  as  a  good  one.  I  shall  love  you  as  I  do 
my  own  brother ;  and  saying  that,  I  can  say  no  more." 

Warren  thanked  the  pretty  little  woman,  and  at  once 
availed  himself  of  a  brother's  privilege,  which  she 
gracefully,  conceded,  Mitchell  looking  on  from  one  side 
and  raising  no  objection. 

They  then  seated  themselves  at  the  supper  Effie  had 
been  preparing  just  as  Jim  arrived  with  a  huge  catch 
of  trout.  That  experienced  worthy,  suspecting  how 
matters  stood,  proceeded  at  once  to  extract  the  truth  by 
a  few  skilfully-put  questions. 

"  Wai,"  he  remarked,  "  I  didn't  contract  to  take  in 
no  huntin'  in  this  trip,  V  I  see  'tain't  necessary.  The 
jedge  kin  git  'long  without  me  thar ;  'n'  he's  done  a 
right  smart  o'  business  at  it,  bringin'  home  the  finest 
deer  I've  seen  this  season." 

"Hold  on,  Jim,"  Warren  answered,  sternly.  "No 
more  of  that  if  you  ever  want  to  see  Ventura  again. 
They  often  kill  men  out  here  for  less  than  that." 

"Oh,  by  the  way,  jedge,"  Jim  went  on,  "that  re 
minds  me.  'Twuz  jest  two  years  ago  to-day.  I 
wuz  out  with  a  party  over  back  o'  Pine  Mountain 

yonder " 

"  Oh,  shut  up,  Jim  !"  Mitchell  exclaimed,  breaking 
21* 


246  THE  BURSTING  OF  A   BOOM. 

him  off  short  in  the  beginning  of  his  authentic  anec 
dote.  "We  can't  stand  any  more  of  your  lies,  or 
certainly  not  to-night." 

Jim  rose  with  an  injured  manner,  saying,  in  a  tone 
indicative  of  the  profoundest  grief  at  this  unjust  and 
inconsiderate  treatment, — 

"  Lies !  I  want  yer  all  to  know,  ladies  V  gents 
both,  that  I  hain't  never  yet  said  one  word  as  wuzn't 
sollum  gospel  truth/'  and  he  went  away  to  smoke  his 
pipe  in  solemn  meditation  upon  the  possibilities  of 
human  ingratitude. 

As  he  was  now  disposed  of,  for  the  evening  at  least, 
Mitchell  turned  to  Warren  and,  assuming  a  manner  of 
solemn  importance,  said, — 

"  Warren,  as  I  am  Mollie's  nearest  male  relative, — 
I  mean,  of  course,  geographically  speaking, — before  I 
can  bestow  my  final  benediction  upon  your  union  I 
must  inquire  into  your  affairs  closely  enough  to  be  sure 
that  you  can  support  a  wife." 

Warren  laughed  dubiously  as  he  answered,  "It  is 
only  fair  that  I  should  answer  that  question,  or  any 
other  of  a  like  nature  that  you  may  choose  to  put, 
owing  to  recent  events ;  for  these  justify  any  doubts 
that  may  exist  as  to  my  financial  soundness;  while 
they  are  events  which,  whether  they  cast  any  shadows 
before  them  or  not,  certainly  leave  a  heavy  enough  one 
behind." 

Then  he  went  on,  speaking  seriously  and  very  sadly, 
to  give  a  full  description  of  his  affairs  as  they  were  left 
by  the  failure  of  the  Oakdale  scheme,  saying, — 

"  There  is  no  use  in  my  denying  that  you  have  been 
right  and  I  have  been  wrong  all  along  about  this  matter. 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  247 

I  have  made  an  unmitigated  ass  of  myself,  and  the  pity 
of  it  is  that  it  cost  me  almost  all  I  am  worth  to  find  out 
how  much  of  a  donkey  I  am.  I  have  crippled  my 
means  for  many  years,  certainly,  and  I  fear  for  life, 
for  I  have  thrown  away  a  little  more  than  two-thirds 
of  my  fortune  in  my  wonderful  speculations.  As  for 
supporting  Mollie  as  I  could  have  done  six  months 
ago,  that  is  now  altogether  out  of  the  question.  I 
cannot  take  her  back  to  New  York  and  keep  up  my 
home  there ;  and,  for  the  matter  of  that,  I  cannot  live 
there  myself  as  a  bachelor  in  the  old  way  any  longer." 

"I  feared  that  you  were  hard  hit.  What  do  you 
propose,  then  ?"  Mitchell  asked,  looking  very  sober  over 
this  intelligence. 

"  I  own  a  fine  piece  of  ranch  property  here,  just  out 
side  of  the  city  limits.  It  is  a  good  property,  well 
stocked  with  fruit-trees  and  nuts,  all  in  bearing  con 
dition.  Fortunately  for  me,  I  bought  it  during  one 
of  my  few  lucid  intervals,  so  I  paid  cash  for  it  and  do 
actually  own  it.  I  had  thought  that,  if  Mollie  were 
willing,  I  would  rent  my  house  in  New  York  and, 
after  we  are  married,  we  would  make  this  our  home 
and  live  on  the  ranch,  while  I  can  practise  my  profes 
sion  at  the  same  time.  From  these  different  sources  I 
could  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door  of  a  very  pretty 
home." 

"  You  would  continue  to  practise  law  in  the  new  and 
approved  method  you  have  lately  adopted,  I  suppose  ?" 
Mitchell  asked,  taking  out  a  cigar  and  offering  one  to 
Warren  as  he  spoke. 

"  Hardly,"  he  replied,  accepting  the  offer  and  taking 
out  his  match-safe.  "  I  have  had  enough  of  booming 


248  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

in  my  six  months'  experience  of  it  to  last  me  through 
a  very  long  life,  should  this  be  granted  me.  I  am  a 
child  who  has  once  been  burned,  and  I  am  anxious  to 
keep  away  from  the  fire  for  the  rest  of  my  life.  With 
what  I  have  saved  from  the  wreck  you  can  see  that  I 
would  be  wretchedly  poor  in  New  York ;  but  out  here 
we  shall  be  rich,  and  we  can  enjoy  all  the  luxuries  that 
any  reasonable  mortal  ought  to  ask  for." 

"  Well,  I  don't  see  but  what  the  picture  is  a  pleasant 
one/7  Mitchell  said,  in  a  meditative  tone,  thoughtfully 
studying  the  ash  on  his  cigar  at  the  same  time.  "  What 
do  you  think  of  it,  Effie?"  he  asked,  turning  to  his 
wife. 

"  I  see  nothing  against  Mr.  Warren's  plan/'  the  sen 
sible  little  woman  at  once  replied,  "  while  it  seems  to 
me  that  everything  commends  it.  But,  after  all,  it  is 
not  for  us  to  decide  in  this  matter ;  the  question  is  one 
which  Mollie  must  decide ;  she  is  the  one  whose  life  is 
interested.  Can  the  recent  city  belle  become  trans 
formed  into  a  California  matron  and  be  happy  in  the 
change  ?"  she  asked,  addressing  her  sister. 

Mollie  clasped  her  hands  over  her  lover's  arm,  and 
glancing  up  into  his  face  with  eyes  expressing  the 
deepest  love,  she  answered, — 

"  I  am  willing  to  do  whatever  is  right  and  for  the 
best,  and  I  know  that  I  shall  be  happy.  Then,  after 
all,  I  prefer  fruits  and  flowers  to  ice  and  snow;  and 
you  know  how  happy  I  have  been  in  the  free  life  we 
have  been  living  all  these  months,  and  ask  no  better 
fate  than  to  continue  it.  I  have  eaten  the  lotus  and  I 
have  forgotten  my  old  home.  Yes,  I  can  say  that  I 
am  glad  that  it  is  best  for  us  to  live  here.'1 


THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM.  249 

"That  settles  it,"  Mitchell  answered,  emphatically. 
"  And  as  you  say,  Warren,  although  you  would  be  a 
poor  man  in  the  East,  you  will  be  a  rich  one  out  here ; 
while,  by  doing  as  you  propose,  and  by  sticking  closely 
to  legitimate  business,  you  will  stand  a  good  chance  to 
recuperate  your  fortunes.  But  let  me  give  you  one 
word  of  caution  that  may  help  you  in  your  domestic 
management:  I  think  it  would  be  by  far  the  better 
plan  for  you  to  leave  the  buying  of  your  wife's  ward 
robe  wholly  in  her  hands.  But  if  you  should  ever 
feel  inclined  to  exercise  your  own  taste  in  selecting  her 
apparel,  I  beg  of  you,  for  goodness'  sake,  don't  pro 
vide  for  her  as  you  did  once  upon  a  time." 

Mollie  blushed  and  looked  unutterably  wretched. 

"  John !"  his  wife  exclaimed,  looking  sternly  upon 
him;  and  the  one  word  emphasized  by  her  glance 
conveyed  volumes  of  meaning. 

Warren  rose  and  stood  over  him  threateningly. 

"  Mitchell,"  he  said,  "  if  ever  you  mention  that  cir 
cumstance  again,  I  shall  inflict  upon  you  grievous 
bodily  injuries ;  and  I  promise  you  that  they  shall  be 
severe,  for  I  shall  cover  your  whole  person  with  bruises." 

"  I  am  crushed  again.  Personal  attire  no  longer  has 
any  place  in  my  knowledge,  and  even  the  very  names 
by  which  the  articles  are  designated  are,  from  hence 
forth,  expunged  from  my  vocabulary.  I  will  promise 
to  go  to  bed  at  once,  also,  if  you'll  forgive  me." 

"  We  will  be  most  happy  to  excuse  you,  John,  and  I 
think  you  had  better  go,"  Mollie  replied,  severely. 

Left  to  themselves  the  lovers  sat  until  late  in  the 
night  telling  one  another  those  incidents  which  are 
drawn  from  the  inexhaustible  fund  of  themes  always 


250  THE  BURSTING  OF  A  BOOM. 

at  the  command  of  two  people  in  love.  As  they  parted 
for  the  night  Mollie  shyly  whispered, — 

"  I  am  afraid,  dear,  that  I  have  given  you  something 
you  do  not  much  care  for  and  did  not  want,  after  all." 

"  What  is  that  ?"  Warren  asked,  greatly  surprised. 

"Myself,"  she  answered,  looking  down  upon  the 
ground,  and  prettier  than  ever  in  the  clear  light  of  the 
full  moon.  "  Do  you  know,  you  have  never  once  asked 
for  me,  or  even  said  that  you  wanted  me  to  be  your 
wife  ?  It  would  be  dreadful  if  I  had  been  mistaken 
all  along ;  and  how  am  I  to  know  that  I  have  not  ?" 

You  know  full  well  the  answer  that  he  made  her. 


THE  END. 


Printed  by  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company, 
Philadelphia. 


